In a compelling demonstration of functionality, M-PACT successfully identified 92% of brain tumors in a benchmarking test; it can also differentiate relapse from secondary tumors and can track if a cancer is getting more aggressive or responding to treatment with no extra input. Beyond brain tumors, M-PACT has the potential to be broadly applicable to many cancer types.

“This is a next-generation assay and computational framework that we’ve optimized and applied across a range of pediatric brain tumor patients,” said corresponding author Paul Northcott, Ph.D., Center of Excellence in Neuro-Oncology Sciences (CENOS) director and Department of Developmental Neurobiology member. “M-PACT is about taking liquid biopsy to another level in pediatric neuro-oncology and applying the technology across many different clinical scenarios.”