Biorepository for Prostate Cancer

The Biorepository Coordination System (BCS) will link researchers at 11 institutions to enable and accelerate the evaluation of key genes and proteins as potential clinical measures of prostate cancer. The project will create a common biorepository of high-quality, clinically annotated biospecimens, including paraffin-embedded and frozen tissue, serum and/or plasma. Researchers will gain the analytical power of combined biorepository resources that will specifically support an Inter-Prostate SPORE Biomarkers Study. This biomarkers study will provide a specific scientific framework for testing the BCS model by conducting validation trials on five promising prostate cancer prognostic biomarkers. Retrospective studies of three promising biomarkers will provide additional evidence of their value in prostate cancer.

Research access to large numbers of high-quality biospecimens, annotated with clinical data, is critical to an improved understanding of disease at the molecular level. Over the past four years, NCI has sought to address this need by assessing the current landscape of biorepositories in its own portfolio, across the United States, and on an international basis. NCI also collaborated on the development of a biorepository network model for the cancer community, the National Biospecimen Network
(NBN) Blueprint. The NBN model is similar to efforts being undertaken by several countries, and it is anticipated that the BCS will test key principles embodied in this model.

The BCS project will enroll patient volunteers at many sites and obtain biospecimens and associated clinical information using an integrated approach for ethical oversight and informed consent. The project will also standardize operating procedures for clinical data collection and biospecimen preservation, processing, storage, and dissemination. The BCS will employ a common interoperable informatics system compatible with the NCI’s Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG™). Informatics is the collection and organization of information using computers and statistical methods.

To support the BCS project, the NCI has awarded a contract to the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC®) of Manassas, Virginia, a non-profit organization with 80 years of experience in the acquisition, authentication, preservation, storage and distribution of biological reference materials.

Message posted by: Rashmi Nemade