BLOOD AND TISSUE BANKING IN GYNECOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Gynecologic cancers are one of the main causes of cancer-related death in women. Ovarian cancer remains the most deadly gynecologic malignancy. Approximately 26,500 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year and ovarian cancer is ranked fifth in cancer mortality among women. The overall 5 year survival rate of ovarian cancer patients is only 47%. These poor survival statistics are due in part to the lack of early symptoms which leads diagnosis at advanced disease stages. Little is known about he biomolecular processes governing the initiation and spread of ovarian cancer and our knowledge of other gynecologic malignancies is nowhere near complete. It is well accepted, however, that alterations in normal cell proliferation including increased cell growth and/or decreased cell death cause an imbalance in tissue homeostasis and contribute to the initiation and progression of tumor growth. The banking of clinical specimens and patient clinical data will provide an invaluable tool for identifying new therapeutic and screening modalities of the eradication of ovarian cancer and other gynecologic cancers.