During the 10 years the Colorado SPORE Tissue Bank Core Laboratory (TBC) has been in existence, two trends have increased the need for optimally processed and preserved specimens from lung cancer patients and subjects at risk for lung cancer. One is the increasing availability of treatment modalities that target specific molecular pathways, such as the ErbB pathway. The second is the shift in focus from clinically symptomatic and usually late stage lung cancers to asymptomatic and early stage or preinvasive lesions in high risk populations. Because of these trends, it has been increasingly important to assess the status of targeted pathways selected for treatment, to monitor the effects of new treatments on biology and prognosis and to define the detailed morphology and expected biological behavior of early lesions. For this work there is no more important tool than tumor or preneoplastic tissue itself. Observations in tumor tissue such as the identification of biomarkers may be extrapolated to more accessible fluid specimens such as blood, sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, urine and surrogate tissue. National panels charged with assessing the state of the science in lung cancer research have consistently identified lack of adequately preserved and studied tissue samples with clinical correlates as a continuing obstacle to the application and validation of promising molecular and imaging technology to the problem of lung cancer.
Specific aims of the TBC then are to: 1. provide well characterized tissues and products derived from those tissues to SPORE investigators 2. assess status of submitted specimens by histological and in situ analyses 3. link specimens to clhfical data including outcomes in rigid compliance with standards for maintenance of patient confidentiality and informed consent. To accomplish these aims the TBC has established innovative methods for the collection of samples for national and local trials and has become a central repository for the Southwest Oncology Group, the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), interSPORE chemoprevention trials and local SPORE detection, treatment and prevention trials. The TBC is a leader in the development of specimen preparation and preservation methods that are required for application of new technologies to tissue analysis. These include preparation of high quality RNA and DNA for microarray analyses, creation of a tissue mieroarray facility, and tissue culture methods to provide purified cell preparations for molecular and cytogenetic analyses. Most importantly, the maturation of the TBC has created a sufficiently large and longstanding resource that it is now possible to create case control scenarios that are of sufficient statistical power to support clinical hypothesis testing.
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