Construction and Validation of a Multi-Institutional Tissue Microarray of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma from Racially and Ethnically Diverse Populations

Abstract

Background The scarcity of tissues from racial and ethnic minorities at biobanks poses a scientific constraint to research addressing health disparities in minority populations. Methods To address this gap, the Minority Biospecimen/Biobanking Geographic Management Program for region 3 (BMaP-3) established a working infrastructure for a “biobanking” hub in the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico. Herein we describe the steps taken to build this infrastructure, evaluate the feasibility of collecting formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks and associated data from a single cancer type (breast), and create a web-based database and tissue microarrays (TMAs). Results Cancer registry data from 6 partner institutions were collected, representing 12,408 entries from 8,279 unique patients with breast cancer (years 2001–2011). Data were harmonized and merged, and deidentified information was made available online. A TMA was constructed from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples of infiltrating ductal carcinoma representing 427 patients with breast cancer (147 African Americans, 168 Hispanics, and 112 non-Hispanic whites) and was annotated according to biomarker status and race/ethnicity. Biomarker analysis of the TMA was consistent with the literature. Conclusions Contributions from participating institutions have facilitated a robust research tool. TMAs of infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma have now been released for 5 projects at 5 different institutions.

Analysis of Racial/Ethnic Representation in Select Basic and Applied Cancer Research Studies

“…Similarly, the Geographic Management Program (GMaP) and the Minority Biospecimen/Biobanking - Geographic Management Program (BMaP) aim to reduce cancer related racial disparities by implementing a multi-institutional network infrastructure in the United States 85 . In this regard, BMaP for region 3 (Southeastern United States and Puerto Rico) developed and validated TMAs of invasive ductal carcinoma from ethnically diverse populations 86 . In addition, the U.S-based National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) leads scientific research to reduce health disparities and improve minority health focusing on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer.…”