SWOG is an adult clinical trials cancer group within the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). SWOG clinical trials include a range of cancer types (e.g., breast, lung, colon, prostate, leukemia, melanoma, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma). The SWOG Biospecimen Bank (SWOG BB), located in the Biopathology Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital, was designed to procure, process, bank, and distribute biospecimens collected as a major component of NCI sponsored clinical treatment trials. These biospecimens are linked to demographic data, surgical and pathological reports, treatment information, and follow-up data. These biospecimens, upon review and approval, are prioritized for distribution to the specific SWOG investigators defined in the clinical trial protocols. Once those needs have been addressed, residual (legacy) banked biospecimens can be distributed to other approved investigators within and outside SWOG. The Bank is a functioning and viable part of SWOG's clinical and translational medicine program, and focuses on the integration of diagnostic, therapeutic, laboratory, and clinical data to answer questions in clinical and translational research. The SWOG BB works under the hypothesis that banking of high quality, clinically-annotated and cancer-related human biospecimens, linked to molecular signatures/markers, will significantly facilitate clinical cancer research. To support ths effort, the SWOG BB manages these biospecimens using standard operating procedures based on current best practices for biorepositories and the latest laboratory technology. As a result the Bank is able to maintain an accurate and effective resource of tumor and normal samples with associated clinical, epidemiologic, and protected health information. The Bank promotes research by qualified investigators by providing access to the Biospecimen IT Navigator and the NCTN front door services. The SWOG BB aims to harmonize and expand general banking practices and innovative technologies facilitating molecular biology research and increase investigator participation in clinical research trials via the NCI sponsored Group Banking Committee (GBC). The SWOG BB also proposes to expand its infrastructure to support the banking, processing, and distribution of biospecimens from patients with cancer participating in NCI ETCTN Clinical Trials.
Cancer research is dependent on the availability of high quality biospecimens linked to patient information from clinical trials. The SWOG Biospecimen Bank collects, processes, banks and distributes biospecimens from adult cancer patients enrolled on NCI-sponsored clinical trials. These biospecimens are eventually used by researchers studying different types of cancer. The results of the research benefits patients by, among other things, contributing to the development of new cancer treatments and to the improvement of patient care.
| Miles, George; Rae, James; Ramalingam, Suresh S et al. (2015) Genetic Testing and Tissue Banking for Personalized Oncology: Analytical and Institutional Factors. Semin Oncol 42:713-23 |
