Primary and metastatic central nervous system tumors (CNS) are associated with a high degree of morbidity and mortality. There is a need for new and more effective strategies for diagnosing, treating and monitoring patients with primary and metastatic CNS tumors. Methodologies that address the need for molecular information that is required for the use of precision medicine and targeted therapies, in patients with CNS tumors, are limited. A liquid biopsy assay will facilitate early molecular characterization and monitoring of patients with CNS tumors and will revolutionize patient management. Studies have shown that blood is not a suitable fluid for the detection of tumor-derived biomarkers in patients with CNS malignancies. In contrast, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), due to its proximity to the brain parenchyma, is a source of informative biomarkers (e.g., circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and metabolites). We hypothesize that it is possible to perform pre- operative molecular characterization and monitoring of patients with CNS tumors by analyzing ctDNA and metabolites in the CSF. Moreover, our prediction is that the levels of these biomarkers will correlate with tumor burden. We anticipate that quantification of these biomarkers in the CSF will facilitate monitoring patients with CNS cancer for tumor recurrence and response to therapies. Our preliminary experiments show that we can isolate ctDNA from small volumes of CSF and detect mutations by next generation sequencing (NGS) and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), at a mutant allele frequency of 0.25% and 0.1%, respectively. We have also identified tumor-specific metabolic signatures in the CSF, and our data shows higher levels of D-2- hydroglyglutarate in the CSF of patients with CNS tumors harboring an IDH1/IDH2 mutation. We propose to pursue two specific aims to develop a CSF-liquid biopsy assay: (1) Validation of a next generation sequencing (NGS) assay to quantify tumor DNA in CSF; (2) To perform metabolomic analysis of ~125 tumor-derived metabolites in CSF. This multi-platform approach will allow comparisons of sensitivity and specificity among various methodologies and cross correlation of results between platforms. Volumetric analysis of CNS lesions in MRI will allow us to evaluate the potential of each biomarker for quantifying CNS tumor burden. We anticipate that these studies will culminate in the clinical implementation of a liquid biopsy assay to facilitate diagnosis and the use of targeted therapies in adult of pediatric patients with primary or metastatic CNS tumors.
The proposed research is relevant to the public health because primary and metastatic central nervous system (CNS) tumors are associated with high morbidity and mortality; and few effective therapies are currently available. Upon conclusion of the study, we will have developed and validated a CSF liquid biopsy assay for early molecular characterization and monitoring of primary or metastatic tumors affecting the CNS. This will facilitate the incorporation of precision medicine strategies in the management of adult and pediatric patients with primary or metastatic CNS tumors, and avoid the need for brain surgery in some patients.
