How The Cancer Biobank Benefits Patients
Biobanks do not provide immediate clinical benefit to a donor but have a longer-term value for future patients with a similar type of cancer.
A good example of how biobanks can directly benefit patients, is their role in identifying HER-2 positive breast cancers. By studying thousands of breast tumours (including some of those in the King’s Health Partner’s Breast Cancer Biobank), researchers discovered that about 25% have extra copies of the HER2 gene and that these tumours behave differently to those without the extra copies. Subsequently diagnostic tests were developed to reliably detect HER-2 breast cancers and scientists have developed drugs to slow the growth of the tumour.
King’s Health Partner’s Breast Cancer Biobank has contributed samples for a large UK-Canada collaborative study to identify different types of breast cancer based on genetic profile. As a result, ten different types of breast cancer were identified. Researchers are now investigating if these different Breast Cancers should be treated with different drugs.
Information about how patient samples and information are used by King’s Health Partner’s Cancer Biobank can be seen on the tissue-type biobank pages.
Types of Research may include:
