ZIC BC 011044 (ZIC) | |||
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Title | Tissue Processing/Sequencing Core | ||
Institution | NCI, Bethesda, MD | ||
Principal Investigator | Vocke, Cathy | NCI Program Director | N/A |
Cancer Activity | N/A | Division | CCR |
Funded Amount | $464,075 | Project Dates | 10/01/2007 - 00/00/0000 |
Fiscal Year | 2014 | Project Type | Intramural |
Research Topics w/ Percent Relevance | Cancer Types w/ Percent Relevance | ||
Cancer (100.0%) |
Bladder (10.0%) Kidney Cancer (50.0%) Kidney Disease (50.0%) Prostate (28.0%) Testes (2.0%) Urinary System (60.0%) |
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Research Type | |||
Cancer Initiation: Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressor Genes Resources and Infrastructure Related to Detection, Diagnosis, or Prognosis |
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Abstract | |||
The Tissue Processing/Sequencing Core (TPSC) is essential in providing support and resources for the Urologic Oncology Branch (UOB) and for our collaborators. The TPSC handles every biospecimen that is generated within the UOB, processes each specimen in order to preserve biomolecules, keeps an accurate inventory of each procurement, and assists in the scientific analysis of select specimens, for the ultimate goal of elucidating biological pathways relating to kidney, prostate, and bladder cancers. The TPSC processes tissue from nearly 100% of UOB surgeries, as well as a subset of biopsies and other procedures. Typically, there are 3 to 6 surgeries and 4 to 12 biopsies per week, resulting in tissue samples procured from over 400 patients per year, including kidney, prostate, and bladder carcinomas, adrenal tumors, uterine leiomyomas, lymph node metastases, and other specimens relating to sporadic and familial urologic cancer syndromes. Tissue is always procured in cooperation with Surgical Pathology, to ensure proper handling and accurate diagnosis. Tissue is snap frozen, preserved in formalin or glutaraldehyde, or processed for biomolecule (DNA, RNA, protein) purification and analysis. In addition, DNA, serum, and plasma are regularly prepared from blood samples taken from patients with inherited syndromes. Whole blood or RNA may also be procured and stored from select patients. Over two dozen blood samples may be processed per week. Finally, the core may also procure and process urine, ascites or thoracic fluids, cyst fluids, or other body fluids from medical procedures. Frozen samples are stored in liquid nitrogen or in a -80 degree centigrade freezer. Specimens are assigned a de-identified lab number and entered into a secure database, Labmatrix. Over 1,500 tissue and over 600 blood specimens have been procured and processed within the past year. The entire UOB tissue repository contains in excess of 20,000 tissue samples and DNA from 3,000 blood samples from over 1,200 patients. Most of the samples were collected at the NIH Clinical Center, and full patient histories are incorporated into Labmatrix. Older samples are currently in the FreezerWorks biorepository. A future goal is for all clinical and laboratory findings to be incorporated into Labmatrix to provide an accessible resource for all of our studies from bench to bedside. A key function of the TPSC is to support clinical trials within the Branch. This past year we handled samples from patients in three clinical trials: Bevacizumab and Erlotinib for patients with metastatic papillary kidney cancer or HLRCC (41 patients; now closed to accrual), AstraZeneca ZD6474 for patients with VHL syndrome (37 patients; now closed to accrual), and a Met kinase inhibitor INC280 for patients with papillary kidney cancer (6 patients to date; open to accrual). Blood samples are processed at regular intervals, for the purpose of investigating pharmacodynamic and phamacokinetic effects of the drugs, as well as other cancer biomarkers. Many of the tumor samples from kidney cancer surgeries are procured under sterile conditions to establish new cell cultures and mouse xenografts. We have generated over 300 kidney cancer cell lines, 48 of which have been extensively characterized for cancer gene mutations. Lines have been generated from hereditary kidney cancer syndromes (BHD, SDHB, VHL, BAP1, HPRC, and 3 HLRCC lines) that provide unique reagents. In the last year, about a dozen kidney tumors and a few prostate and bladder tumors have been placed in cell culture and/or in SCID/BEIG or nude mice, with a subset of these growing viably in the short-term and a small number (6 this year) that become immortal. These lines are invaluable for studying both the molecular basis of tumorigenesis and prospective therapies. In a current study, 15 of our lines are being subjected to drug screening in a collaboration with NCATS. Cell lines are kept in standard carbon dioxide or low oxygen incubators or" |