Biobank

Foundation of research

Researchers often need to use body materials to conduct scientific research. Body materials include blood and urine samples. Certain studies require materials from a large number of people. Collecting these materials takes enormous amounts of time and effort. It’s possible that other researchers need the same materials, but they are unaware of each other’s research requirements. To better facilitate scientific research, we have established a biobank. Materials such as blood and urine are stored in tubes in special freezers, ensuring they can be preserved for a long time.

What happens to the materials?

Researchers who want to use materials from the biobank for scientific research must first have their research plan approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Netherlands Cancer Institute. The IRB is an ethics committee that checks whether the study is meaningful and if the privacy of participants is well protected. Researchers must submit a new application to the IRB for each study. Without approval, they are not allowed to use materials from the biobank.

Searching for biomarkers

Many researchers aim to discover (new) biomarkers in body materials. These are specific substances that can act as indicators, such as proteins or special segments of genetic material (DNA), which are present or significantly altered in quantity to indicate a potential disease like cancer. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is an example of such a biomarker. Every man has a level of protein PSA, but an elevated level can indicate a prostate condition. Another example is the presence of blood in the stool, which is what the colorectal cancer population screening program screens for. Elevated PSA levels and blood in the stool are examples of biomarkers for cancer, but we cannot rely on these biomarkers alone. Out of the people who had blood in their stools, only 1 in 27 actually gets diagnosed with colorectal cancer. This is, of course, good news for most people, but researchers aim to find even better biomarkers to avoid burdening many people with screening tests, and to reduce unnecessary stress. That’s why researchers are always investigating newer and smarter biomarkers. Our biobank can assist them in this quest.

One thing that makes our biobank unique, is that we collect materials from people who are not ill, or in the early stages of cancer. This complements the materials in the existing Netherlands Cancer Institute biobank, and is vital for the research we want to conduct to detect cancer at even earlier stages.

Questions?

Please email biobank-cvv@nki.nl