National Cancer Institute U.S. National Institutes of Health www.cancer.gov
Cooperative Human Tissue Network 1-866-462-2486

CHTN's Impact on the Scientific Community

SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES USING CHTN TISSUE

The CHTN has contributed to a wide range of scientific advances in cancer research and many other biomedical disciplines since its inception in 1987. During the last 10 years, more than 1500 publications have resulted from studies using CHTN specimens. CHTN specimens have contributed to discoveries of the role of genetic alterations in cancer initiation, progression and metastasis and studies to improve diagnostic accuracy and classification of tumors. CHTN specimens have also been critical to determining the relevance to humans of findings from research using animals and cell lines.

Examples of the types of research projects supported include:

  • The development of mouse/human chimeric and xenotransplant models for cancer research
  • Studies of carcinogen activation, DNA adduct formation and detoxification in human tissue, organ specificity and inter-individual susceptibility
  • Studies to examine pharmacologic effects of chemotherapeutic drugs in human systems.
  • Studies of epidermal transport and drug delivery

The CHTN has provided specimens needed for the development of emerging technologies and the application of these technologies to study problems in cancer biology, and to develop markers for diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of response to therapy. In recent years, the CHTN has supported a wide spectrum of oncogenomic studies including:

  • Characterization of epigenetic lesions as non-random and tumor specific type events.
  • Studies of gene expression profiles and studies to determine the clinical usefulness of such profiles.
  • Identification of novel diagnostic molecular markers by exploiting genome wide expression tools.
  • Methylation microarray analysis of cancers.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS BY CHTN PARTICIPANTS

Clausen KP, Grizzle WE, LiVolsi V, Newton WA, Aamodt R, The Cooperative Human Tissue Network. Cancer 1989;63:1452-5.

LiVolsi VA, Clausen KP, Grizzle W, Newton W, Pretlow TG 2nd, Aamodt R. The Cooperative Human Tissue Network; an update. 1993;71:1391-4.

Merz JF, Sanker P, Taube SE, LiVolsi V. Use of human tissues in research: clarifying clinician and researcher roles and information flows. J Invest Med 1997;45:252-7.

Grizzle WE, Fredenburgh J. Avoiding biohazards in medical veterinary and research laboratories. Biotechnic & Histochem. 2001;76:183-206.

Grizzle WE, Aamodt R, Clausen K, LiVolsi V, Pretlow TG, Qualman S. Providing human tissues for research: how to establish a program. Arch Pathol Lab Med 1998; 122:1065-76.

Grizzle WE, Sexton KC. Development of a facility to supply human tissues to aid medical research. Srivastava S, Henson DE, Gazadar, A, editors. Molecular Pathology of Early Cancer. Washington, DC: IOS Press; 1999. p371-83.

Qualman SJ, France M, Grizzle WE, et al. Establishing a tumor bank: banking, informatics and ethics. Br J Cancer 2004; 90:1115-9.

Jewell S, Srinivasan M, McCart LM, et al. Analysis of the molecular quality of human tissue: an experience from the Cooperative Human Tissue Network. Am J Clin Pathol 2002:118:1-9.

Grizzle WE, Bell W, Fredenburgh J. Safety in Biomedical and Other Laboratories, In: Molecular Diagnostics. (Eds. G. Patrinos. W. Ansorg). Chapter 33, pp 421-428, 2005.

CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF BIOSPECIMENS DISTRIBUTED

Graph of Cumlative Number of Biospecimens Distributed (1987-2008)

STUDIES TO ASSESS SPECIMEN QUALITY

The CHTN continues to evaluate specimen handling and processing procedures to assure that specimens provided are of the highest quality. As the emphasis on molecular uses of CHTN tissues has increased, the CHTN has assessed the molecular integrity of its specimens. The CHTN evaluated the molecular integrity of gynecologic specimens by RT-PCR and DNA and ribosomal RNA electrophoresis performed on ovarian tissue samples. RT-PCR assay for amplification of the mRNA gene product (177 bp product) of the HPRT housekeeping gene revealed adequate amplification in 70% of ovarian cases. RNA electrophoresis also showed that RNA was of high quality and showed minimal degradation in 70% of the samples evaluated. DNA electrophoresis indicated the genomic DNA was of high quality in 100% of the tissues tested. A collection of recent (2001-3) solid pediatric tumors was also analyzed by RT-PCR. Only four of 95 cases (4.2%) showed insufficient or degraded RNA.

Jewell S, Srinivasan M, McCart LM, et al. Analysis of the molecular quality of human tissue: an experience from the Cooperative Human Tissue Network. Am J Clin Pathol 2002;118:1-9.