# Development and Validation of a CSF Liquid Biopsy for Molecular Characterization and Monitoring of Patients with Central Nervous System Tumors

> **NIH NIH K08** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 2020 · $243,711

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
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.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10055321
- **Project number:** 1K08CA241651-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Leomar Y Ballester
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $243,711
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-11 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10055321

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10055321, Development and Validation of a CSF Liquid Biopsy for Molecular Characterization and Monitoring of Patients with Central Nervous System Tumors (1K08CA241651-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10055321. Licensed CC0.

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