Liquid Biopsy has evolved as a promising approach for noninvasive cancer detection and monitoring. Due to major technical advances in recent years, Liquid Biopsy technologies allow the sensitive and accurate identification of small tumor DNA fragments (circulating tumor DNA, ctDNA) in the blood of cancer patients.

The overall goal of our research project is to optimize a Liquid Biopsy method for ultra-sensitive ctDNA detection in patients with primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL) and to establish ctDNA as a reliable noninvasive clinical biomarker in PCNSL. To achieve this, we will profile ctDNA from distinct time points during the course of the disease to describe its genetic characteristics and to elucidate its role for prediction of relapse and treatment response in PCNSL.