The goals of this proposal are 1) to establish and maintain a central repository of neoplastic tissues and biological specimens of HIV-related malignancies with concomitant clinical and outcome data reference directory files, 2) to emphasize and prioritize the accrual of HIV-associated invasive and in-situ carcinoma of the uterine cervix, and 3) to make available suitable specimens for molecular, immunologic, genetic, and epidemiologic analysis to the research community at-large. The participant institutions are The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn (SUNY-HSCB), King's County Hospital Center(KCHC), and Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center(WH). The general Tissue Bank (TB) principles are: 1) to microscopically examine all tissues provided to investigators; 2) never compromise diagnostic or staging information; 3) to utilize only remnant surgical, autopsy, cytology, and clinical laboratory specimens routinely removed for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes; 4) to limit research to existing pathology specimens without patient identifiers; 5) to employ Universal Precautions and biohazard precautions; and, 6) to maintain patient confidentiality by providing demographic, clinical and pathologic data without patient identification. The TB Coordinator (TBC) reviews the Operating Room schedule, HIV Clinic schedule, and approved protocols to identify potential specimens for inclusion. Pathologist receives tissue performs pathologic diagnosis, and determines whether sample is to be catalogued and stored in Tissue Bank. Appropriate sample is chosen by pathologist in conjunction with TBC. Specimens are either shipped fresh to investigators according to specific protocol, frozen as sterile, single cell suspensions, and/or flash frozen with cryopreservative in isopentane at -70C. Parallel paraffin blocks to frozen specimens are also made and banked. The frozen samples are subsequently transferred to a central -196C liquid nitrogen storage freezer. Remnant blood and fluids are similarly frozen. A computerized database systematically catalogs all specimens and maintains a record of the TB inventory and clinical database. A flexible searching algorithm retrieves specimens for various research protocols.
