Abstract
These biobanks were funded by various programs from the Ministry of Health, Institut National du cancer (INCa, National Cancer Institute), Inserm (French National Institute of Health and Biomedical Research), and Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, National Science Agency). Development and deployment of the Web-based catalogue allowing networking, and creation of a “virtual regional tumour bank” was funded by Cancéropôle PACA (France). The purpose of the PACA biobank is to support the development of translational research projects in oncology, along with research teams that are active partners within the PACA geographical area, as well as outside, in France and other countries.
The Web-based catalogue was independently developed by a private partner company (ModulBio S.A., Marseille). This is based on a thesaurus of information as defined by a consensus working group established under the auspices of the French Ministry of Health and INCa. Information include administrative, clinical and pathological data, the latter relying on the CIM-O/CIM-10 nomenclature, as well as on the (French) ADICAP nomenclature for pathological diseases. The catalogue is fully searchable by would-be end-users, who can then contact the tumor bank curators, in order to refine their project, and eventually contract with the host institutions. Only samples associated with individual consent are displayed online. Currently, the five units of the PACA biobank collectively hold biospecimen (tissues and/or blood samples) of more than 9,500 patients.
In addition, the PACA biobank has developed standard operating procedures for scientists and patients as well as information documents for healthcare providers and medical practitioners. The three PACA institutional tumour banks currently hold a valid NF ISO-9001 or NF ISO-96S-900 certification.
Next plans for the PACA biobank include the creation of a new catalogue of tissue microarrays, actions to increase the number of tissue specimen associated with blood samples, and to develop and evaluate technological innovations, such as the integration of RadioFrequency Identification (RFID) chips, in addition to data-matrix or bar codes, in order to improve traceability for human biological resources. Ultimately, the goal of the PACA tumour bank is to further develop collaborations with different French and International Agencies for cancer research programs, and to maintain the high level of quality for samples and associated clinical and pathological annotations.