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. 2024 Apr 19;16(8):1576. doi: 10.3390/cancers16081576

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Focused ultrasound-mediated blood–brain barrier opening (FUS-BBBO) and liquid biopsy in brain tumors. The blood–brain barrier (BBB) hampers the transport of biomarkers shed by the brain tumor in the bloodstream; FUS-BBBO temporarily increases the permeability of the BBB in the tumor vasculature allowing tumor-derived biomarkers to enter the bloodstream. Blood sample collection shortly after FUS-BBBO (FUS-BBBO-enhanced liquid biopsy) could improve the blood levels of tumor-derived biomarkers, including cell-free DNA (cfDNA), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), RNA, proteins, extracellular vesicles and circulating tumor cells (CTC). Biomarker enrichment by FUS-BBBO could be confirmed by comparing biomarker levels in blood samples drawn before and after FUS-BBBO. The following analyses can be applied to the abovementioned analytes to identify tumor-associated signatures: epigenomic and genomic profiling (e.g., methylation pattern, respectively, point mutations and copy number variations) or fragmentomic analyses (fragment size) on cfDNA, transcriptomic analyses (RNA), proteomic analyses (protein expression and posttranslational modifications) or quantification and characterization of extracellular vesicles and circulating tumor cells. Created with https://BioRender.com, accessed on 26 January 2024.