Glioblastomas are aggressive brain tumors that are commonly diagnosed through a risky and invasive surgical biopsy. A team of researchers led by Hong Chen at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a noninvasive diagnostic method that may one day replace the tissue biopsy with a simple blood test.
Chen, associate professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering and of radiation oncology in the School of Medicine; Eric Leuthardt, professor of neurosurgery at Washington University School of Medicine and of biomedical engineering in McKelvey Engineering; and the team tested the method in both small and large animal models and found significantly improved detection and diagnostic sensitivity for brain tumors via a simple blood sample. Results of the study are published online in the journal Theranostics, Nov. 10, 2021.
The method, known as sonobiopsy, uses focused ultrasound to target tumors deep in the brain. Once located, the researchers inject microbubbles into the blood that travel to the ultrasound-targeted tissue and pulsate, which safely opens the blood-brain barrier. The temporary openings allow biomarkers, such as DNA, RNA and proteins, from the tumor to pass through the blood-brain barrier and release into the blood.
