Biorepository of cancer tissue samples from WTC responders

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There has been concern about the possibility of an increase in cancer incidence among the World Trade Center (WTC) responders. However, it is known that most occupational cancers become manifest only one or more decades after carcinogenic exposure; additionally, the cohort was relatively young at the time it was assembled. The tenth anniversary of 9/11 marks a significant landmark for studies on cancer occurrence in this population, since the time frame after the exposure (10 years) is becoming etiologically relevant for cancer, and the cohort is aging thus entering a time in life when cancer becomes more frequent. There is now a need to supplement the current epidemiologic cancer follow-up with a cancer tissue bank; biospecimen resources and their clinical annotations are among some of the most powerful resources fueling translational research. We propose to implement a tissue bank system for the WTC newly diagnosed cancers, focused on advancing the understanding of the biology of these tumors. This project will initiate and manage a central repository of cancer tissue samples and adjacent normal tissue from each solid cancer diagnosed among the WTCHP participants. Relevant information from pathology and cytology reports from each cancer will also be centrally stored. This repository will have the capability to be linked with the main WTCHP data set containing clinical, epidemiological and exposure information collected for the participants at the time of inclusion in the WTCHP and during the regularly performed follow up. Subsequently, RNA, DNA and tissue microarrays (TMA) will be prepared from each tissue sample. Such samples will be made available for future genomic research studies, studies of gene-environment interaction, as well as DNA methylation studies. Specific analyses such as immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, DNA ploidy analysis, nuclear morphometry, and fluorescent in situ hybridization will also be possible on the stored samples. We will also establish the tissue bank as a resource for the science community, by defining a process for qualified applicants to request available samples for research use, and for access epidemiologic and clinical information in the database. The tissue bank will represent the necessary infrastructure for addressing questions such as the link between specific carcinogens exposures and certain cancer sites, molecular signatures of exposure that could be linked to cancer, specific markers of tumor aggressiveness among WTC responders.. This will ultimately impact the modalities of treatment, and the probability of success and survival of these patients.