Clinical research by Dana-Farber scientists suggests that combining a novel agent called navtemadlin with DNA-damaging chemotherapy for the treatment of glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, could increase efficacy. Navtemadlin is an MDM2 inhibitor that can help to kill cancer cells by boosting the activity of p53, a protein that controls cell growth and induces cell death in response to DNA damage. In lab experiments, the researchers found that navtemadlin was one of the best drugs at killing glioblastoma cells with intact, non-mutant p53.