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PUBLICATIONS > Biopsies: next-generation biospecimens for tailoring therapy

25 June 2013

Biopsies: next-generation biospecimens for tailoring therapy

Authors: Mark Basik, Adriana Aguilar-Mahecha, Caroline Rousseau, Zuanel Diaz, Sabine Tejpar, Alan Spatz, Celia M. T. Greenwood & Gerald Batist

Abstract

The majority of samples in existing tumour biobanks are surgical specimens of primary tumours. Insights into tumour biology, such as intratumoural heterogeneity, tumour–host crosstalk, and the evolution of the disease during therapy, require biospecimens from the primary tumour and those that reflect the patient’s disease in specific contexts. Next-generation ‘omics’ technologies facilitate deep interrogation of tumours, but the characteristics of the samples can determine the ultimate accuracy of the results. The challenge is to biopsy tumours, in some cases serially over time, ensuring that the samples are representative, viable, and adequate both in quantity and quality for subsequent molecular applications. The collection of next-generation biospecimens, tumours, and blood samples at defined time points during the disease trajectory—either for discovery research or to guide clinical decisions—presents additional challenges and opportunities. From an organizational perspective, it also requires new additions to the multidisciplinary therapeutic team, notably interventional radiologists, molecular pathologists, and bioinformaticians. In this Review, we describe the existing procedures for sample procurement and processing of next-generation biospecimens, and highlight the issues involved in this endeavour, including the ethical, logistical, scientific, informational, and financial challenges accompanying next-generation biobanking.

Key Points

  • Next-generation biospecimens are biopsy-type clinical specimens collected from patients at distinct time points and in a prespecified clinical context of treatment, made available for multidimensional high-throughput technologies
  • Biopsies of recurrent primary or metastatic tumours are highly sought after next-generation biospecimens for both research purposes and the clinical management of patients
  • Controlling preanalytical variables is critical to ensure that the results of multidimensional high-throughput profiling are accurate and reproducible
  • Standard operating procedures for biospecimen collection and processing, with quality assurance of every specimen, must be developed and adhered to, with particular emphasis placed on the training of personnel
  • Collection of next-generation biospecimens requires increased resources and a multidisciplinary team consisting of interventional radiologists and molecular pathologists
  • 24 September 2013In the original published version of this article, the link in reference 106 was incorrect and should have referred to the Biospecimen Research Database of the NCI (page 444 of the article). This reference has now been corrected for the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to recognize the Interventional Radiology Department at the Jewish General Hospital (especially Andre Constantin and Errol Camlioglu), the Pathology Group from Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement (especially Benoit Têtu and Michèle Orain) and the Jewish General Hospital (Adrian Gologan and Tina Haliotis) and the laboratory of Koren Mann, for contributing their expertise to the collection and processing of high-quality biospecimens. The authors would like to thank both Thérèse Gagnon-Kugler and Suzan McNamara of the Québec Clinical Research Organization in Cancer for their valuable comments in drafting the manuscript. We would like to acknowledge support from the FRQS-Réseau de Recherche sur le Cancer, Genome Québec and the Québec Breast Cancer Foundation.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Departments of Surgery and Oncology, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Côte Sainte Catherine Road, Montreal, H3T 1E2, QC, CanadaMark Basik
  2. Department of Oncology, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Côte Sainte Catherine Road, Montreal, H3T 1E2, QC, CanadaAdriana Aguilar-Mahecha
  3. Québec Clinical Research Organization in Cancer (Q-CROC), Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Côte Sainte Catherine Road, Montreal, H3T 1E2, QC, CanadaCaroline Rousseau & Zuanel Diaz
  4. Department of Pathology, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Côte Sainte Catherine Road, Montreal, H3T 1E2, QC, CanadaAlan Spatz
  5. Departments of Oncology, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, and Human Genetics, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Côte Sainte Catherine Road, Montreal, H3T 1E2, QC, CanadaCelia M. T. Greenwood
  6. Department of Oncology, Segal Cancer Centre, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Côte Sainte Catherine Road, Montreal, H3T 1E2, QC, CanadaGerald Batist
  7. Department of Digestive Oncology and Center for Human Genetics, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, Leuven, B-3000, BelgiumSabine Tejpar

Contributions

A. Aguila-Mahecha, M. Basik, G. Batist, Z. Diaz and C. Rousseau researched data and wrote the manuscript. C. M. T. Greenwood, A. Spatz and S. Tejpar made substantial contribution to discussion of content. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gerald Batist.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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