Core A: the Gl Human Tissue Resource will coordinate histopathological assessment of all Gl tissues collected from two local Tucson-area hospitals and existing banks of normal and neoplastic Gl tissues. Approximately 400 colorectal, esophageal and pancreatic cancer patients are seen annually at the Arizona Cancer Center (AZCC) and the Southern Arizona Veterans Administration Medical Center (SAVAMC). During the past funding period, we have collected over 2,000 surgical specimens prospectively. Existing tissue banks contain over 5000 frozen and fixed samples of normal and neoplastic intestinal and pancreaticobiliary tissues. More than 1500 colon adenomas and over 800 specimens from patients with Barrett's esophagus have been collected and stored during the course of cancer, prevention studies conducted at the AZCC and SAVAMC. Standard methods of preservation and storing tissues are employed to facilitate measurement of desired endpoints. Special services, such as laser capture microdissection, tissue arrays, and digitized virtual slides of the specimens are available to SPORE investigators. The activities of Core A-GITissue Resource are coordinated with other proposed resources, to ensure collection of tissues from patients participating in the clinical trials, standards of marker measurement in tissues, adequacy of statistical input into design of trials and evaluation of results from patient studies. With the assistance of Core B -Informatics, a comprehensive database for all samples within the Gl Tissue Resource has been established. This database is designed so that it can be interrogated for patient related information, including outcome data, and specific prognostic and/or predictive factors obtained during the course of this research effort. The G.I. Tissue resource (Core A) is essential for translational aspects of all the G.I.SPORE projects. We have a significant resource for our G.I.SPORE and outside SPORE investigators. We have established an infrastructure for the collection of tissue prospectively that has been instrumental in assisting the developmental research program. It will support the Career Development awardees in designing and pursuing their objectives. Finally the core will continue to provide the tissue resource to investigators under the SPORE projects.
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