Rochester, Minnesota – Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota have made a significant breakthrough in monitoring the progression of high-grade gliomas, one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer. A new personalized blood test, tailored to each patient’s tumor DNA, offers a faster and less invasive way to track whether the cancer is advancing. This innovative approach provides clinicians with an additional tool to monitor tumor changes over time and adjust treatments accordingly.
Currently, clinicians rely on scans and surgical biopsies to monitor gliomas, but these methods have limitations. Scans may struggle to distinguish tumor growth from treatment effects like inflammation, while biopsies involve invasive procedures that are impractical for routine monitoring. However, the personalized blood test developed by Mayo Clinic researchers detected tumor DNA in approximately 93% of cases where specific DNA junctions were present.
The study focused on tumor DNA fragments circulating in the blood. As gliomas grow, dying glioma cells release pieces of their DNA into the bloodstream, leaving behind unique genetic markers. Unlike many other cancers, gliomas release fewer DNA fragments into the blood due to the blood-brain barrier that prevents substances from leaving the brain. To overcome this limitation, researchers concentrated on DNA junctions – tumor-specific DNA fragments present in higher quantities. By targeting these markers, researchers were able to detect even the smallest signs of tumor progression more sensitively.
Lead author George Vasmatzis, Ph.D., co-director of the Biomarker Discovery Program at Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, highlighted the potential of this research. He emphasized the new possibilities for patient-specific monitoring and targeted interventions that this personalized blood test offers in the study of high-grade gliomas.
Collaborating with neurosurgeon Terry Burns, M.D., Ph.D., at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, researchers analyzed patients’ samples with high-grade gliomas to map each tumor’s unique genetic blueprint and identify patient-specific DNA junctions. By developing personalized blood tests to search for these genetic markers in plasma, the researchers were able to detect tumor DNA in around 93% of cases where these DNA junctions were present, even before MRI scans showed any changes – providing an early signal for disease progression.
The potential of this blood-based tumor tracking for glioma progression across a larger group of patients will be evaluated in future studies. These findings demonstrate a shift towards proactive patient-specific monitoring and targeted interventions that could revolutionize the treatment decisions for high-grade gliomas.