Tissue Acquisition Pathology and Clinical Data

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The first and foremost goal of the Tissue Acquisition, Pathology, and Clinical Data (TAPCD) Core is to maintain and expand the existing repository for specimens, including tissues, blood and urine from patients with kidney tumors that have given consent to link their samples to clinical data. Included in this component are the collection, freezing, and storage of fresh samples of kidney cancer and paired non-tumor tissue; the collection, processing and storage of blood and urine; the identification and provision of samples of fixed tissues, including construction of tissue microarrays (TMAs) from biopsy and nephrectomy samples obtained from patients who have consented to allow analysis of these tissues. The caTissue system, which is the NCI caBIG's biorepository tool for biospecimen inventory management, is currently used to track specimens through every step of the requesting, shipping, and receiving process through the use of barcode technology. Importantly, the TAPCD Core will continue to maintain a database of clinical data (CRIS) on all consenting RCC patients. The value of the database is enhanced by the use of standardized pathology review procedures and data collection procedures. The database and specimen tracking system provide an informatics link among the participating Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) hospitals, including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (DFCI/BWH), the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Children’s Hospital of Boston (CHB). This allows seamless sharing of specimen resources, linked to clinical outcome data, behind a secure data management system that is available to SPORE investigators at all participating institutions. The protection of patient confidentiality is guarded throughout the whole process, from specimen collection to use in research projects. The Biostatistics Core is and will continue to be responsible for assisting in the data analysis, data auditing and quality control. Finally, TAPCD Core has provided and will continue to provide SPORE investigators a variety of services critical to successful molecular analysis of human kidney tumors as well as xenograft models. These services include: histopathologic review and quality control analysis of all tumor samples utilized in experimental studies; macrodissection of frozen tissue samples and slide microdissection of paraffin-embedded or frozen tissues to ensure high neoplastic cellularity for samples utilized in experimental studies; laser capture microdissection (LCM) to provide ultra-pure tumor samples; performance of routine immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) stains on human kidney cancers (TMAs or whole tissue sections); optimization and validation of antibodies to known and novel proteins for use in IHC and IF; analysis of a broad range of IHC and IF stains using computer-assisted image analysis; development of novel RCC models.