The Importance of Human Tissue Bioresources in Advancing Biomedical Research

Abstract

Medical research advances enabling the realization of precision medicine have relied heavily on the biospecimens provided by bioresources to identify the targets and biomarkers that are the focus of the new generation of more effective molecular-based therapies for specific subtypes of diseases. Through the biospecimens they have distributed, bioresources have permitted subtypes of cancers to be identified and molecular features of these subtypes to be effectively targeted. A prototype example is the human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2), which currently is targeted in breast and gastric cancers. In the future, the use of biospecimens from bioresources will continue to increase the understanding of the molecular actions of drugs and how drugs may be more or less active in subpopulations of patients. Although the biospecimen inventories of the initial forms of bioresources may not have always been optimally planned and, therefore, utilized in supporting biomedical research, bioresources are evolving and overall, bioresource inventories and increasingly their prospective collection capabilities will continue to be a critical component of the research infrastructure.

Precision medicine: Driving the evolution of biobanking quality

“…Together with annotating biological and clinical data, biospecimens are essential for this research that aims to advance precision healthcare. 17,18 One critical aspect of biobanking is that biospecimens must be of sufficient quality to ensure that any observations may be ascribed to the inherent characteristics of the biospecimen, not to pre-analytical variables-potential artifacts arising from biospecimen handling, processing, or storage. Fortunately, much knowledge and expertise has been developed in the field of research biobanking to understand these quality requirements and how to minimize or eliminate important areas of preanalytical variability.…”

The Utilization of Biospecimens: Impact of the Choice of Biobanking Model

“…The classic biobanking model is biospecimen centric and is a model that has acquisition of biospecimens as its main focus. Classic biobanks fulfill critically important needs in biomedical research 8,9,20,21 and have many advantages. 8,9 They collect and store biospecimens and data for future research use and have available or may collect rapidly extensive outcome data associated with their mature biospecimens.…”

“…8,9,16 Of note, an available inventory may not aid those investigators who do not understand issues related to the use of various preparations of biospecimens in research. 8,9,14,15,[20][21][22] When biospecimen collection outpaces biospecimen distribution, the inventory of the biobank will grow. 9 For example, if the distribution is only 50% of each year's collection and the collection rate is constant, after 4 years, the inventory will have increased by two times the collection rate.…”

“…Such a classic biobank is critical to the support of biomedical research, especially translational research on biomarkers and other research requiring clinical and/or outcome data, which are typically unavailable from prospective bioresources. 8,9,[20][21][22]…”

Biobanking for Cancer Biomarker Research: Issues and Solutions

“…4 Nevertheless, access to human biospecimens and accompanying data is essential to enable the discovery, translation, validation and implementation of most gene based biomarkers. 5 , 6 …”