Establishment of a hereditary tumor bank for molecular epidemiology studies Free

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Since hereditary tumors represent approximately 5% of most prevalent tumors, the identification of high-risk individuals will favor early diagnosis and outcome. In order to investigate hereditary cancer biology in respect to the genetic variance of the Brazilian population we have successfully established a Hereditary Tumor Bank at the Brazilian National Tumor and DNA Bank (BNT).
 >The Hereditary Tumor Bank is a centralized biorepository of blood DNA and tumors from patients included from six Clinical Genetics public centers located in the five different geographic regions of Brazil, whose high risk is indicated by their personal or family history of cancer. In this service, tumor samples are stored following ethical guidelines, under high quality standards, with clinical and epidemiological annotated data. A software was developed for registering the sample data at collection allowing the identification, storage, processing, and retrieval of pathology, epidemiology, clinical lab and treatment data. We have developed a new electronic epidemiological questionnaire containing the most cancer relevant questions concerning variables for cancer risk assessment. Assistant and research nurses were trained by epidemiologists to ensure the quality of the data collected. Patients that consented for tissue banking collection are asked by the nurse to answer the epidemiological questionnaire either online or by the intranet. Epidemiologists regularly evaluate data evaluation and entry consistence. Familial and tumor data are available for researchers and collaborators at www.inca.gov.br/bnt, with diverse levels of accession. In an 18-month period, over 1200 annotated tumor samples (sporadic or hereditary) were collected from 811 patients with breast, gynaecological, GU, GI, CNS, paediatric, bone & soft tissues, H&N, and lung cancers
 >Interestingly, the epidemiology database allows regular update of variables, including secondary tumors and family history of cancer, and represents a useful tool for researchers to select tissue specimens according to epidemiological variables. In the future, molecular epidemiological studies will take the advantage of the wealth of samples in order to explore the effect of the genetic background of the Brazilian population on cancer development.