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User:Chicagomaroon/Tumor Bank

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Tumor Bank

A Tumor Bank, as used in this article, is a term commonly used to describe a service that collects, stores and distributes fresh human tumor tissue for the purposes of biomedical research, primarily cancer research.

A Tumor Bank is sometimes also referred to as a Tissue Bank, since normal tissues for research are also often collected. However, this function is distinct from a Tissue Bank which collects and harvests human cadaver tissue for medical research and education, and banks which store Biomedical tissue for organ transplantation.


Cancer Samples

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Most tumor banks collect their tumor samples from discarded tissues not needed for pathologic diagnosis, after patients undergo surgery to remove the tumor. The tissue is often snap frozen in liquid nitrogen but may also be preserved in special fixative such as RNAlater (which preserves RNA), or formalin which preserved tissue architecture.

- Many Cancer Centers in the U.S. have a Tumor Bank to supply biomedical scientists with actual patient samples of cancer and associated adjacent normal tissue. This process is currently a high priority to support more Translational Research.


References

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Hidalgo DO & Entrena NR. Tumor Banks for genomic and proteomic research, Clinical and Translational Oncology, 2004, Volume 6 pp 381-390. [1]

Isabelle M, et al., TuBaFrost 5: Multifunctional central database application for a European tumor bank TuBaFrost. Eur J Cancer. 2006 Dec;42(18):3103-9. Epub 2006 Oct 6 [2]


External Links


UMass Cancer Center Tumor Bank

National Cancer Institute-Human specimens for research