Research & funding
We’re banking on new tissue venture I
n 2006, 56 of the world’s leading breast cancer specialists got together to analyse what gaps exist in breast cancer research
and what could be done to fill these areas. The one issue that kept coming up was the lack of access to sufficient, suitable clinical (tissue) samples for research. In the past, access to this material has been completely dependent on a scientist’s location and contacts, resulting in a major barrier to translating research into potential new treatments and saving lives. Breast Cancer Campaign felt a responsibility to act on this information and fill this crucial gap. Five years later the world’s first breast cancer tissue bank is now open. Working together as one national resource, four sites – the University of Dundee/NHS Tayside, University of Nottingham, University of Leeds and The Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London – will house the groundbreaking Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank. This coalition of centres will store breast tissue samples, donated by patients throughout the country, safely and consistently. These will be available to scientists whatever their location in the UK and Ireland. Currently there is no such large resource of breast tissue like this available to scientists and doctors anywhere in the world.
‘Research using tissues from the bank will lead to better prevention, earlier diagnosis and improved treatments’
The four centres will ask patients having breast surgery to consent to donating their tissue for research. Along with these tissue samples, researchers will be given vital, but anonymous, information about the patient, such as the characteristics of their cancer, family history and treatments. Over time, the effectiveness of treatments and whether the disease progresses or recurs will be recorded. Speaking at the launch of the Tissue Bank
at 11 Downing Street in March, Professor Alastair Thompson, Chair of the Tissue Bank Management Board and Professor of Surgical Oncology, University of Dundee, said: “The importance of the Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank to both scientists and people with breast cancer cannot be underestimated. This revolutionary, national approach to tissue banking will ensure that research is fast tracked from laboratory into the clinic. “In the coming years we will see the benefits for people with breast cancer, as research using tissues from the Bank will lead to better prevention, earlier diagnosis and improved treatments which have the potential to save many thousands of lives.” The Tissue Bank, expected to cost £10 million over the next five years, has received a massive funding boost. Asda’s Tickled Pink campaign raised over £1m in 2010 through its staff and customers, and breast cancer charity
6 focus June-September 2011
Walk the Walk recently awarded a grant of £1million to the Bank as part of its support. Within a year, the bank will have collected
samples from around 1,000 patients, each capable of being used in many studies. Tissue will only be released for research when the Tissue Access Committee is satisfied the study is valuable and does not overlap with work being carried out elsewhere. By tracking what research has been carried out on which tissue, and how each patient fares over time, bank administrators will be able to help researchers coordinate their work, translate it into treatments and find out about the characteristics of cancers. Drugs such as Herceptin (see cover image) could not have been developed without access to appropriate tissue samples. This tissue bank will ensure that precious material generously donated by patients is properly registered and used for the greatest benefit. Women with breast cancer are amazed that such a facility did not already exist. Of 200
who were asked for consent for breast tissue to be banked for research at Barts, just one declined. The bank will give women the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy for future generations to help beat breast cancer.
For details visit
breastcancertissuebank.org
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