SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AIDS MALIGNANCY NETWORK

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The UCLA and USC AIDS programs operate specimen repositories as resource laboratories for their respective research communities. Because of the unique resources of each of these repositories, significant extramural collaborations exist. These laboratories are designed to support clinical trials as well as basic science and epidemiologic investigations of the pathogenesis of AIDS related malignancies. Cedars Sinai Medical Center is a community based tertiary care hospital which acts as the referral center for AIDS related lymphoma pathology studies in Los Angeles. Together these three centers access over 200 new cases of Kaposi sarcoma and 100 cases of lymphoma each year. At UCLA, the laboratory' houses a computerized inventory of over 15,000 serum samples, 600 plasma samples and 800 frozen viable lymphocyte preparations. The bank provides isolates of Kaposi sarcoma cells and AIDS lymphoma cells for basic science studies. The samples are linked to clinical status and outcome as a result of participation in clinical trials. Most patients have multiple samples dating over 5 years providing longitudinal data. At USC, the laboratory houses over 5000 serum samples, 306 urine samples, 84 RNA/tissue preparations of Kaposi sarcoma lesions, and over 20 fresh Kaposi sarcoma cell lines. The majority of the samples were collected from an extensive epidemiologic survey designed to elucidate pathogens or processes leading to the development of Kaposi sarcoma or from clinical trials of anti-KS and anti-lymphoma agents. Collaborators have used these samples to exclude Rochelimea as a causative agent for KS, examine the relationship between cytokine perturbations and the development of lymphomas, identify key molecules in the post-receptor pathway of signal transduction in KS leading to proliferation, demonstrate that heavy chain utilization in lymphomas is non-random, investigate the clonality of AIDS malignancies, and isolated genetic fragments of a organism that maybe linked to classical and AIDS-related KS. At Cedars Sinai, over 235 cases of AIDS related lymphomas have been analyzed to date. These studies include extensive immunophenotypic characterization, EBV studies and delineation of p53 mutations. To date, these three repositories have serviced over 25 investigators at multiple institutions on a wide range of basic science questions requiring clinical materials. The unique ability of these banks to provide rare specimens (such a female or HIV negative epidemic KS cell lines) and the associated clinical information needed to place the results in context are the greatest strength of this repository. This application is for a joint repository to house samples related to AIDS related malignancies at UCLA after processing at the local sites. The application blends the individual strengths of each of the sample repositories with the talents of accomplished AIDS malignancies investigators. The bank already contains a wealth of samples vital to the study of Kaposi sarcoma and lymphoma pathogenesis. Valuable control samples from matched community based controls are unique to this repository. The combined repository will continue to collect control samples, samples from patients on clinical trials, epidemiologic data, and clinical outcome data. The repository will provide access to serum, plasma, and urine from patients with AIDS malignancies. Total RNA preparations, fresh and paraffin embedded lymphoma and KS tissue samples will be available along with the baseline epidemiologic data and clinical response.