Our tumour bank is one of only two paediatric tumour banks in Australia. The bank has two staff members and is located in the Children’s Cancer Research Laboratory headed by Dr. Andrew Hallahan. It is located within our research lab at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane. The bank has close ties with other tumour and tissue banks through the Australasian Biospecimen Network. For information about the much appreciated donors who make the tumour bank possible please visit http://www.workingwonders.com.au/.

We collect material from all types of solid tumours, as well as liquid tumours such as leukaemias. In addition to “traditional” ways of storing tissue, we specialise in the long term banking of live tumour material.

What is a tumour bank?

Tumour banks are an important resource for cancer research. A tumour bank is a collection of small pieces of tumour that have been preserved in various ways for use in the future. When a tumour is removed from a patient during surgery there is usually more material than pathologists need for diagnosis, so the tumour bank staff collect the left-over material that would otherwise be destroyed. For example, material can be stored in ultra cold freezers or in liquid nitrogen, so that the samples stay in good condition for decades. Often the samples are in small tubes, which are then stored in boxes in special metal racks inside the freezers. This “banked” material is made available to research groups in Brisbane, elsewhere in Australia, and around the world. A single tumour from a child can give 100 or more banked samples, which can then be used in numerous different projects at different times over the following years. Samples that have been held in the collection for a long time, say 5 to 10 years, become extremely valuable, as the information associated with them grows (for example whether the child suffered relapse). Researchers can request specific samples based on such information.

Each tube has a coded number, not a patients name, so the scientists using the material can never find out the identity of the donor. As well as collecting the tissue, tumour bank staff maintain and care for samples, manage associated data, and liaise with external groups requesting material to ensure samples only go out to not-for-profit research projects that will benefit society. Importantly, the bank obtains clearances to ensure all activities are within ethical guidelines, and ensures that before collection the parents of children give consent for their material to be used for research.

Why are tumour banks important?

Tumour banks greatly speed up research. Without banks scientists can take many years to collect enough samples. When they have access to banked material they can often start research straight away, thereby making much more efficient use of their own funding.

• Through the bank researchers have access to associated information about the progress of the child that would otherwise be very difficult to obtain.
• They allow a single tumour to be used by many groups.
• They enable studies to be more powerful, through using larger sample sizes.
• They enable researchers to investigate questions about cancer that would otherwise be difficult or impossible (e.g. study of rare tumours).
• Tumour bank samples can be used to investigate areas such as DNA changes and genetic predisposition, and the activity of specific genes and proteins in the cells. In the case of live banked material researchers can also study how the different cells within the tumour grow and behave, and can investigate potential new treatments in the lab.