Abstract
Cancer is caused by complex interactions between genes, environment and lifestyles. Biobanks of well-annotated human tissues are an important resource for studying the underlying mechanisms of cancer. Although such biobanks exist, their integration to form larger biobanks is now required to provide the diversity of samples that are needed to study the complexity and heterogeneity of cancer. Clear guidelines and policies are also required to address the challenges of integrating individual institutional or national biobanks and build public trust. This Science and Society article highlights some of the main practical and ethical issues that are undergoing discussion in the integration of tissue biobanks for cancer.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Impact of ultra-low temperature storage on serum sIgE detection and allergic disease biobank feasibility
Scientific Reports Open Access 27 November 2023
-
Ethics of the health-related internet of things: a narrative review
Ethics and Information Technology Open Access 04 July 2017
-
Translational oncology toward benefiting cancer patients: the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center experience
Science China Life Sciences Open Access 07 November 2012
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Cohen, M. H. et al. Approval summary for imatinib mesylate capsules in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia. Clin. Cancer Res. 8, 935–942 (2002).
Siena, S., Sartore-Bianchi. A., di Nicolantonio, F., Balfour, J. & Bardelli, A. Biomarkers predicting clinical outcome of epidermal growth factor receptor-targeted therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer. J. Natl Cancer Inst. 101, 1308–1324 (2009).
Lemieux, J., Provencher, L., Latreilly, J., Rayson, D. & Wang, B. The role of neoadjuvant Her2-targeted therapies in HER2-overexpressing breast cancers. Curr. Oncol. 16, 48–57 (2009).
Tan, D. S. W. et al. Biomarker-driven early clinical trials in oncology. Cancer J. 15, 406–420 (2009).
Bonavida, B. Preface. Antibody therapies for cancer. Oncogene 26, 3592–3593 (2007).
Taube, S. E. et al. A perspective on challenges and issues in biomarker development and drug and biomarker co development. J. Natl Cancer Inst. 101, 1453–1463 (2009).
Caporaso, N. E. Why have we failed to find the low penetrance genetic constituents of common cancers? Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 11, 1544–1549 (2002).
Burton, P. R. et al. Size matters: just how big is BIG? Quantifying realistic sample size requirements for human geneome epidemiology. Int. J. Epidemiol. 38, 263–273 (2009).
Bevilacqua, G. et al. The role of the pathologist in tissue banking: european consensus expert group report. Virchows Arch. 456, 449–542010.
Riegman, P. H. J., de Jong, B. W. D. & Llombart-Bosch, A. The organization of European cancer institute pathobiology working group and its support for European biobanking infrastructure for translational cancer research. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 19, 923–926 (2010).
Buetow, K. H. An infrastructure for interconnecting research institutions. Drug Disc. Today 14, 605–610 (2009).
Goosner, M. National Comprehensive Cancer Networks (NCCN) — big data basis outcomes research begins to yield results. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 102, 215–217 (2010).
Cambon-Thomsen, A. Accessing the impact of biobanks. Nature Genet. 34, 25–26 (2003).
International Society of Biological and Environmental Repositories. Best practices for repositories: collection, storage, retrieval and distribution of biological materials for research. Cell Preserv. Technol. 6, 3–56 (2008).
The German Ethics Council Biobanks for Research, Opinion. Deutscher Ethikrat [online] (2004).
Sheikh, A. A. Genetic research and human biological samples: some legal and ethical considerations. Med. Law 23, 897–912 (2004).
Elger, B. S. & Caplan, A. L. Consent and anonymization in research involving biobanks. EMBO J. 7, 661–666 (2006).
Annas, G. Rules for research on human genetic variation – lessons from Iceland. N. Engl. J. Med. 342, 1830–1833 (2000).
Chadwick, R. & Berg, K. Solidarity and equity: new ethical frameworks for genetic databases. Nature Rev. Genet. 2, 318–321 (2001).
O'Neill, O. Informed consent and genetic information. Stud. Hist. Philos. Biol. Biomed. Sci. 32, 689–704 (2001).
Ravitsky, V., Fiester, A. & Caplan, A. (eds) The Penn Center Guide to Bioethics (Springer Publishing, New York, USA, 2009).
Hakimian, R. & Korn, D. Ownership and use of tissue specimens for reseach. JAMA 292, 2500–2505 (2004).
Wolf, L. E., Bouley, T. A. & McCulloch, C. E. Genetic research and stored biological materials: ethics and practice. IRB 32, 7–18 (2010).
Council of Europe Draft explanatory memorandum to the draft recommendation on research on biological materials of human origin, Strasbourg. Council of Europe Steeting committee on Bioethics [online] (2006).
Campbell, A. V. The ethical challenges for genetic databases: safeguarding altruism and trust. Kings Law J. 18, 373–382 (2007).
Shickle, D. The consent problem with DNA biobanks. Stud. Hist. Philos. Biol. Biomed. Sci. 37, 503–519 (2006).
Helgesson, G., Dillner, J., Carlson, J., Bartram, C. R. & Hansson, M. G. Ethical framework for previously collected biobank samples. Nature Biotechnol. 25, 973–976 (2007).
Slater, B. & Jones, M. Biobanks and bioethics: politics of legitimation. J. Eur. Pub. Pol. 12, 710–732 (2005).
Putnina, A. Exploring the articulation of agency: Population genome project in Latvia. International Summer Academy on Technology Studies [online] (2002).
Gertz, R. Withdrawing from participating in a biobank — a comparative study. Eur. J. Health Law 15, 381–389 (2008).
Hansson, M. G. et al. Should donors be allowed to give broad consent to future biobank research? Lancet Oncol. 3, 266–269 (2006).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Related links
Related links
DATABASES
National Cancer Institute Drug Dictionary
FURTHER INFORMATION
Canadian Tumour Repository Network (CTRNet)
European Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI)
European Forum for Good Clinical Practice
National Cancer Institute Best Practices for Biospecimen Resources
National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Watson, R., Kay, E. & Smith, D. Integrating biobanks: addressing the practical and ethical issues to deliver a valuable tool for cancer research. Nat Rev Cancer 10, 646–651 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2913
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2913
This article is cited by
-
Impact of ultra-low temperature storage on serum sIgE detection and allergic disease biobank feasibility
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Willingness of breast cancer patients to undergo biopsy and breast cancer clinicians’ practices around seeking biopsy at the time of breast cancer relapse
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (2018)
-
Ethics of the health-related internet of things: a narrative review
Ethics and Information Technology (2017)
-
Translational oncology toward benefiting cancer patients: the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center experience
Science China Life Sciences (2016)