Effective tissue procurement and utilization is vital for meaningful translational research activities. The Tissue Procurement and Distribution Core will work with each SPORE project and the Biostatistics and Information Management Core to ensure efficient and highly-coordinated procurement, use and storage of human tissue samples. The Core will obtain and maintain a repository of tissue samples (including tumor tissue, premalignant tissue (in the case of mucinous neoplasms including intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms), adjacent non-malignant tissue, peripheral blood lymphocytes, and plasma) for laboratory use, with an effective coding system for all laboratory specimens to ensure patient confidentiality and prevent experimental bias. Standardized operating procedures will provide for optimal tissue collection and accurate processing, analysis and storage of each sample. Thus, the functions of the Tissue Procurement and Distribution Core are to facilitate acquisition, preservation, analysis and dispersal of clinical samples and to provide histopathologic characterization of tumor tissues for all project investigators. The Tissue Procurement, and Distribution Core has the following objectives: 1. To develop and maintain repository of tissue specimens from patients with pancreatic neoplasms receiving care or evaluation at the M.D. Anderson and Karmanos Cancer Centers. 2. Provide comprehensive histologic characterization of tissue samples used in SPORE projects, including specimens from patients entered onto clinical protocols and expeditiously distribute tissue specimens to SPORE investigators and provide expertise in the interpretation of studies performed on tissue sections within SPORE projects. 3. Offer centralized services, including (but not limited to) immunohistochemical characterization of biomarkers, tissue microarray, and manual and laser capture microdissection. 4. Maintain a comprehensive, prospective interactive database with detailed pathologic data for patients with pancreatic neoplasms receiving treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Harper University Hospital (Karmanos Cancer Center, Wayne State University). 5. Facilitate inter-SPORE collaborations through sharing of tissue resources
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter