What Happens to a Donated Tumor?
Tissue banks may hold the key to cancer research, but can we overcome
the obstacles to unlocking their full potential?
By Stephen Ornes
CR | Page No. 36 | Summer 2009
In the basement of a gray building
in New Haven, Conn., are a million
tumors. Each tumor is encased
in paraffin, and these blocks sit
in the deep drawers of oversized
filing cabinets that stretch from
end to end of the quiet, basketball
court–size room. Around the world
are hundreds—if not thousands—
of tissue repositories like this one,
which belongs to the Yale School
of Medicine. In the United States
alone, there are more than
300 million preserved tumors, representing nearly 200 million cases.
These tumors also represent
hope for the future. They are the
start of a story that begins and
ends with cancer survivors. The
shortest version goes something
like this: Cancer patients donate
tumors, pathologists collect
tumors, genetic researchers use
tumors to study cancer.
The end, one day in the
future, could go like this: People
diagnosed with cancer receive
personalized medicine, custom-fit
to their particular malignancies.
“Personalized medicine,” like the
catchphrases “molecular therapy”
and “genetic engineering,” is part
of a new lexicon of hope for people
with a cancer diagnosis.
But a major obstacle threatens
the promise of personalized
medicine: Scientists aren’t always
able to get the high-quality tumor
samples they need for this research.
Tumor banks were originally set
up to fulfill institution-specific
purposes, not to create public
resources for genetic research.
Most of these biobanks, especially
the ones run by universities or
major research institutions, don’t
share with outsiders.
Plus, “biobanking in this country
is done in silos—every single
biobank that exists does things
in its own way,” says pathologist
Carolyn Compton. As a result, it’s
difficult for researchers to find
samples that have been uniformly
collected and annotated. Even
if a researcher does identify a
potentially important molecular
clue, “you may not be able to
validate your original findings,
because now you’re using different
biospecimens annotated and
collected in a different way,”
Compton explains. “You can’t be
using apples, oranges and grapes
all in one unified project.”
Compton, who directs the Office
of Biorepositories and Biospecimen
Research at the National Cancer
Institute (NCI), has an idea for
how to remedy the problem. In
2006, her office established the
Biospecimen Research Network, a
program designed to study tissue
specimens, including tumors,
and ultimately bridge the gap
between tissue collection and
research that requires the tissue.
For the last two years, the network
has hosted meetings that bring
researchers together to talk about
biospecimen science, and in 2007,
it produced recommendations for
best practices in the collection
and handling of tumors and other
biospecimens. The Office of
Biorepositories and Biospecimen
Donated tissue samples (bottom
left and right) at Yale–New Haven
Hospital (top left) are preserved in
formalin and encased in paraffin
blocks (top right) and stored for
research.
