Can a new test of cerebrospinal fluid be used for many diseases of the brain and spinal cord? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Testing a fluid known as cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, found surrounding the brain and spinal cord, reveals a lot about brain tumors and the immune response to them. Johns Hopkins neurosurgery department director Chetan Bettegowda and test developer says this is just the first place this test may help.

Bettegowda: We view this truly as a platform to continue to iterate and add on. While the focus of the study today was on brain cancers we know that there are a number of inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, those are much more common thankfully than the brain cancers that we deal with. When we think about things like multiple sclerosis or neuroinflammatory conditions, neurodegenerative conditions, we know that there are components there that are very tightly linked to inflammation and the immune system. We are very enthusiastic that these sorts of approaches can be modified and further optimized to help patients with that.   :34

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.