Researchers have demonstrated that a new liquid biopsy approach overcomes traditional barriers to quickly and efficiently diagnose and monitor high-grade pediatric gliomas.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and Michigan Medicine C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, however, were optimistic that cerebrospinal fluid could be a valuable source for tumor DNA that could help monitor and treat pediatric cancer patients with aggressive brain tumors known as high-grade gliomas.

Not only do the mutations in these tumors change over time, causing shifts in potential avenues for treatment, the amount of tumor DNA in a patient’s spinal fluid can help doctor’s know whether changes observed on a patient’s imaging scans are true signs of a tumor’s progression or a merely the body’s response to cancer treatments.

«We knew from past research that the genetic sequences of these tumors, including information about the mutations that are driving them, can be found in the spinal fluid — but collecting it isn’t currently part of the standard of care,» says Carl Koschmann, M.D., a Mott pediatric oncologist and researcher with the Chad Carr Pediatric Brain Tumor Center at Michigan Medicine. «That’s something we have been hoping to change.»

A new study by Koschmann and a team of researchers from U-M suggests new, portable DNA sequencing technology could make such a «liquid biopsy» approach feasible. The team’s findings, which appear in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, were the first to apply nanopore genetic sequencing technology toward this purpose.

«We used a modern, handheld DNA sequencing device in a way that had never been done before,» says study first author Amy Bruzek, M.D., a neurosurgery resident at Michigan Medicine. «This allowed us to analyze the tumor DNA in patients’ cerebrospinal fluid quickly and with equipment that’s portable enough to bring into the operating room.»

The nanopore system works by measuring changes in electrical current as biological molecules pass through the tiny holes in a collection surface; different values correspond to different letters in the genetic code, thus allowing a DNA sequence to be read.

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Materials provided by Michigan Medicine — University of Michigan. Original written by Ian Demsky. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.