Collection of Tissue Blocks or Slides From Patients With Cancer

BACKGROUND:

Cancer of any type is a serious disease and despite all the progress made from past research, there is still much that is poorly understood at the molecular level. Recent advances in biomedical technology platforms have emerged as critical tools for accelerating personalized medicine. The collection of human tissue specimens has been an invaluable resource for conducting translational cancer research using these developing technologies. The ultimate goal is to understand the molecular indicators of cancer development and progression. While it is ideal to be able to study clinical samples, specifically tissue biopsies, they are however precious and are often difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities or numbers to conduct proteomic or molecular profiling studies. There exists, however, a vast archive of pathologically characterized clinical samples in the form of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks. The preservation of these tissue blocks and/or slides for long-term (years) storage is an important asset that aids in translational and clinical research. This protocol will describe the procedures for receiving, labeling and storing paraffin-embedded tissue blocks and/or slides until they are needed for future analysis. When blocks are ready for analysis, the requestor will then follow the IRB protocol specific to that study.

OBJECTIVE:

• To obtain tissue blocks and slides from outside pathology departments for cancer patients being treated at the Medical Oncology Branch (MOB) and Affiliates Center for Cancer Research (CCR), National Cancer Institute (NCI) in order to store them for future studies and analysis (e.g., using molecular technology platforms).

ELIGIBILITY:

• Patients suspected of having, or with biopsy proof of malignant disease will be evaluated in the Medical Oncology Branch and Affiliates Clinics, NCI.

DESIGN:

• Tissue blocks and slides will be acquired from outside pathology departments and received by the Clinical Pharmacology Program of the MOB/CCR/NCI for coding.
• Bar-coded tissue blocks and slides will then be transferred to the Laboratory of Pathology/CCR/NCI for proper long-term storage.