effect of zinc sulfate on overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a phase ii study

Background: glioblastoma is the most prevalent and aggressive adult glial tumor. patients who receive standard treatment have a mean survival of 12-14 months. zinc is a micronutrient that has shown to have anticancerous effects. in the in vitro studies zinc had antineoplastic effects on gliobalstoma cells.method: this is a phase ii randomized trial in which 60 patients in two groups were evaluated. the zinc group (29 patients) received zinc sulfate supplement 50 mg orally twice a day and the control group (31 patients) who were selected from historical case sreceived no supplements.results: mean overall survival in the case and control groups were 9.93 (± 3.29) and 9.0 (± 3.56) months. in the case and control groups, the mean disease-free survival were 9.62 (sd ± 3.37) and 8.26 (sd ± 3.47) months. these differences were not statistically significant. although overall survival and recurrence-free survival in patients in the case group was higher than the control group, there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.485).conclusion: zinc consumption was associated with better survival, but these differences were not statistically significant, necessitating further studies.