Cerebrospinal fluid circulating tumor DNA genotyping in lung adenocarcinoma with leptomeningeal metastases

The prognosis of patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and leptomeningeal metastases (LM) is poor. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is abundantly present in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). A retrospective study at Hebei Medical University (China) included 35 LUAD-LM patients who underwent next-generation sequencing of 139 lung cancer-associated genes in ctDNA from matched CSF and plasma. There was significant heterogeneity in the mutations detected in CSF and plasma samples. The authors conclude that CSF ctDNA could provide a more comprehensive genetic landscape of LM when compared with plasma ctDNA.