{"entity":{"id":"idea-bio2-sonobiopsy","kind":"idea","name":"Ultrasound-assisted blood test instead of a brain biopsy","aka":[],"tldr":"Brain tumours release little DNA into blood because of the blood-brain barrier. Sonobiopsy briefly opens the barrier with focused ultrasound and microbubbles, raising circulating tumour DNA severalfold so a blood sample can replace repeat surgical biopsy for diagnosis and resistance monitoring in glioma and brain metastases.","summary":"Focused ultrasound with microbubbles transiently opens the blood-brain barrier, and first-in-human sonobiopsy studies report severalfold increases in circulating tumour DNA and brain-derived proteins after sonication, without lasting damage. This could replace repeat surgical biopsy for molecular diagnosis, resistance monitoring and response assessment in glioma and brain metastases.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Focused Ultrasound Foundation","url":"https://www.fusfoundation.org"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["glioblastoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":["bbb-focused-ultrasound","liquid-biopsy","mrd-testing"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["insightec"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["blood-brain-barrier","ctdna"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-brain-delivery","b-tumor-heterogeneity"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Focused ultrasound sonication before blood sampling raises the detection rate of tumour-specific mutations in plasma from under 20% to over 70% in glioma, with no grade 3 adverse events.","rationale":"The barrier is the reason brain tumour liquid biopsy fails, and opening it is now a routine procedure in movement disorder and Alzheimer's trials. Diagnostic use requires only transient opening, which is a lower safety bar than drug delivery.","test":"A prospective study in patients undergoing planned resection: sonobiopsy plasma versus tissue as reference standard, reporting sensitivity, specificity and safety.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"engineering","cost":"medium","horizonYears":5},"route":"/ideas/idea-bio2-sonobiopsy/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"glioblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Glioma & glioblastoma","route":"/cancers/glioblastoma/"}],"technology":[{"id":"bbb-focused-ultrasound","kind":"technology","name":"Focused-ultrasound blood-brain barrier opening","route":"/technologies/bbb-focused-ultrasound/"},{"id":"liquid-biopsy","kind":"technology","name":"Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)","route":"/technologies/liquid-biopsy/"},{"id":"mrd-testing","kind":"technology","name":"MRD / molecular residual disease testing","route":"/technologies/mrd-testing/"}],"company":[{"id":"insightec","kind":"company","name":"Insightec","route":"/companies/insightec/"}],"term":[{"id":"blood-brain-barrier","kind":"term","name":"Blood-brain barrier (BBB)","route":"/terms/blood-brain-barrier/"},{"id":"ctdna","kind":"term","name":"Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA)","route":"/terms/ctdna/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-brain-delivery","kind":"bottleneck","name":"The brain: barrier and sanctuary","route":"/bottlenecks/b-brain-delivery/"},{"id":"b-tumor-heterogeneity","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Tumour heterogeneity and clonal evolution","route":"/bottlenecks/b-tumor-heterogeneity/"}]}}