Liquid biopsies, which test body fluids that contain cancerous material, including circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), are a noninvasive way to learn about a cancer’s biology. However, technological limitations with the small amount of ctDNA available from pediatric brain tumor liquid biopsies have previously stymied broad use of the approach for those patients. To address this, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists, in collaboration with scientists at the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and other international centers, created Methylation-based Predictive Algorithm for CNS Tumors (M-PACT). M-PACT uses AI to sift through ctDNA in cerebrospinal fluid and molecularly classify tumors based on their DNA methylation pattern.
This article was originally published on MedicalXpress.com
