Sampath et al. investigated CSF samples from 27 patients with high-grade astrocytomas, 39 patients with non-astrocytic CNS neoplasms and 14 patients with no known CNS neoplasm and found that VEGF was detectable in the CSF of 89% of patients with malignant astrocytoma and was absent in normal CSF samples [18]. The gene discussed is VEGFA; the disease is astrocytoma (excluding glioblastoma).