The purpose of this shared resource is to collect and distribute clinically annotated human biospecimens related to cervical cancer and HPV disease, and to provide pathologic and immunologic expertise and support for tissue-based analyses for investigators in the Johns Hopkins/University of Alabama/University of Colorado/Mount Sinai Cervical Cancer SPORE. The tissue core has been in existence since 1998, and has expanded with the support of the Cervical Cancer SPORE. To date, we have banked frozen tissue samples from 810 benign gynecologic tissues, 2,220 tumor resections, and 178 resections of preinvasive cervical HPV lesions. Longitudinally obtained exfoliated cell and peripheral blood specimens from 245 subjects enrolled in our CIN2/3 protocols have also been obtained, as well as one-time subject-matched peripheral blood samples for benign tissues (206), and from 632 tumor samples. Formalin fixed blocks are available for virtually all of these specimens. In addition, this shared resource has also banked specimens from patients enrolled in therapeutic vaccination protocols for HPV-associated squamous cancers of the head and neck. All biospecimens are harvested and banked in accordance with the National Cancer Institute?s Best Practice Guidelines for Biorepositories. The core has been expanded to include expert pathologic and immunologic consultation to investigators, including guidance for quantitative digital image analyses-guided molecular studies of tissues. Specimens will be collected under the supervision of pathologists with expertise in gynecologic pathology, in close collaboration with clinical colleagues in these areas. Clinical information for subjects enrolled in our clinical protocols is entered into a password-protected web-based tracking system. This internal web-based system follows the recommendations of the National Research Council, and includes user authentication, encryption, audit trails, and disaster recovery. A review mechanism is in place for prioritization of distribution of requested resources to investigators within and external to the Johns Hopkins Cervical Cancer SPORE. Biosamples have been shared with collaborators at academic institutions across the country.
Despite many prevention strategies, HPV-associated disease remains common, not only in the female lower genital tract, but also in anatomic sites for which no screening algorithms have been validated. This core resource will support projects of this application related to the diagnosis and treatment of HPV neoplasia with high quality tissues and biosamples as well as to provide pathologic and immunologic expertise.
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