This pioneering technique allows doctors to more accurately measure the effectiveness of brain cancer treatment and identify potential new treatment options.

High-grade gliomas get their name from their fast-growing nature and the speed with which they grow through brain tissue, making them hard to treat. These tumours occur more frequently in children, which is why children and young adults were chosen as the focus of this particular study.

Previously, it had been extremely difficult to find any meaningful brain tumour DNA in a patient’s blood stream because of the blood-brain barrier. However, scientists at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Centre and Michigan Medicine C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in the US have found a way to overcome this hurdle.

Using a small handheld device, fluid is extracted from the patient’s spine and quickly analysed to study cells shed by their brain tumour into the interconnected cerebrospinal fluid. This allows doctors to detect tumour mutations via spinal fluid, opening up potential avenues for treatment. The amount of tumour DNA in a patient’s spinal fluid can also help doctors know if changes observed in a patient’s imaging scans are a sign of tumour progression, or just swelling/inflammation as a response to cancer treatment. For instance, scans can often make it appear as though a tumour has grown, when what doctors are seeing is just the tumour swelling in response to radiotherapy.

This brilliant new technique (which is not yet standard of care) works by measuring changes in electrical current as biological molecules pass through the tiny holes of a collection surface, housed in a portable handheld device. Different values assigned to these molecules correspond to different letters in the genetic code allowing a DNA sequence to be pieced together. The device is cheap and portable and offers quick access to genetic sequence results, allowing the clinicians to make immediate assessments and provide the very best treatment options.

Across nearly 130 samples, the researchers found the new approach worked well, and the results were confirmed using well-established sequencing methods.

According to many researchers and clinicians, exploiting the specific molecular mutations in these tumours offers the best hope of attacking them. Using this technique would also enable doctors to monitor how a tumour’s mutations were changing over time and allow them to know whether certain treatments are more or less likely to work.

This brilliant research was supported by the DIPG Collaborative, of which Cure Brain Cancer Foundation is a foundational member, in conjunction with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke the U-M Chad Carr Pediatric Brain Tumor Center, Catching Up With Jack, The Evans family, the Chad Tough Foundation, Michael Miller Memorial Foundation, the Prayers from Maria Foundation, the U CAN-CER VIVE Foundation, and the Morgan Behen Golf Classic.