The Clinical Breast Care Project Tissue and Serum Repository:

A Unique Resource for Breast Cancer Research

Authors:  Jeffrey A. Hooke MD; Craig D. Shriver MD FACS

Location Address:  Comprehensive Breast Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Bldg.2, Ward 55, Washington, DC 20307-5001

Designated Authors:  Jeffrey A. Hooke; jeffreyhooke@na.amedd.army.mil

Introduction:  The establishment of a comprehensive breast tissue and serum repository is one of the fundamental pillars of the Clinical Breast Care Project (CBCP).  This repository is linked to a clinical and pathological database and will provide the necessary resources for understanding the molecular mechanisms that govern the transformation of normal breast cells into cancer.

Methods:  The CBCP tissue repository banks all types of breast specimens to include fine needle aspirations, excisional biopsies for palpable masses, needle localization biopsies for mammographically detected abnormalities, re-excisions, mastectomies, and reduction mammoplasties.  In each case, an attempt is made to harvest pathologic and non-pathologic breast tissue as well as any lymph nodes frozen in liquid nitrogen, and histologic sections from matched pathologic and non-pathologic paraffin-embedded tissue.  In addition, the CBCP established a concomitant serum library, which can be used to investigate protein marker expression in various forms of breast disease.

Results:  Tissue and blood specimens stored in the CBCP repository are utilized for a variety of high-throughput molecular and biochemical studies at the CBCP’s two main research facilities – Windber Research Institute in Windber, PA and the Immunology Support Laboratory at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD.  Recent technologies such microarray analysis, proteomic, and laser capture microdissection are at the forefront of these investigations.

Conclusions:  In order to understand the molecular triggers of breast cancer proliferation and migration, it is necessary to study large numbers of normal and breast cancer tissue.  The CBCP is currently developing such a repository in conjunction with a comprehensive database of clinical and pathologic parameters.  The CBCP tissue and serum repository represents a unique resource that should prove invaluable to our understanding of breast cancer development.