Dr. David Baskin and The Kenneth R. Peak Brain & Pituitary Treatment Center Research team found that immune-compromised mice harboring implanted human glioblastoma tumors in their brains had greatly enhanced survival and weight gain when given a newly developed chemotherapeutic prodrug. This mitochondrial-targeted prodrug - an inactive compound that cancer cells selectively metabolize to produce an active toxic drug - also greatly improves outcomes when couple with standard therapies of radiation and/or chemotherapy. In the September issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, our researchers showcase how this drug selectively targets and destroys the DNA inside the glioblastoma cell mitochondria (the energy factory of the cancer cell) leaving normal cells intact. This is the first reported selective mitochondrial chemotherapy for glioblastoma.