Patients
Your voluntary donation of tissue, blood and other body fluids plays a crucial role in supporting medical research.
By analyzing tissue and fluid samples, researchers can gather important information about the causes of disease, disease progression, underlying mechanisms and potential risk factors. This data contributes to the development of new preventive measures, diagnostic procedures and treatment methods. Your sample donation also helps to develop personalized approaches in which treatments can be tailored to individual patients.
For a more concrete insight, we have listed a selection of projects in which we are involved and explained them in more detail below:
Armani is the abbreviation for "Anatomical Resection of Liver MetAstases iN patIents With RAS-mutated Colorectal Cancer". The project/trial involves biospecimen from patients who have had anatomical resection of liver metastases from RAS-mutated rectal cancer. The ARMANI trial is the first prospective, randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of molecularly guided resection in patients with colorectal liver metastases. While these metastases could be removed regardless of the segmental boundaries of the liver, retrospective data favor anatomic resection in the subgroup of patients with a mutation in the RAS oncogene. Therefore, the ARMANI study will test the hypothesis whether molecularly guided anatomical resection improves the long-term outcome compared to non-molecularly guided anatomical resection in these patients.
Cancer is caused by pathological changes in the genetic material. As these changes vary greatly from patient to patient or even from tumor to tumor, it is important to know the individual pattern of the cancer cells. The MASTER program develops tailor-made therapy options based on these genetic changes. The NCT sites in Heidelberg and Dresden and all sites of the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK) are working closely together on this.
Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a rare blood disorder in which the immune system produces too few blood platelets for no reason. This can lead to an increased risk of bleeding. As there are only a few patients with ITP, there is often a lack of sufficient data and experience. The German ITP Registry aims to collect information on the disease and its treatment in a central database. In addition, biomaterials can also be used for further research.
In order to better understand and describe the disease COVID-19, NAPKON (National Pandemic Cohort Network) has set itself the goal of capturing a high-quality group of patients. Comprehensive study protocols include over 90 standardized instructions for clinical tests and diagnoses, as well as imaging examinations with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). Biosamples are collected in a standardized manner, processed and safely stored in professional biobanks such as BioBank Dresden.
EXLIQUID stands for "Exploiting liquid biopsies to advance cancer precision medicine" - the use of information from liquid biopsies for more precise treatment.
EXLIQUID analyzes circulating tumor DNA in the blood of cancer patients in order to precisely monitor the response to therapy and thus detect new therapy resistance at an early stage. However, these methods cannot detect all new changes in tumor DNA, such as newly emerging resistance mutations. If a patient does not respond to therapy, it often remains unclear why this is the case. In a liquid biopsy, however, cell-free DNA is isolated from the blood and examined for tumor-specific changes. The aim is to discover the circulating tumor DNA in the cell-free DNA. Thanks to new advances in DNA analysis, such new tumour biomarkers can now be detected very sensitively and specifically in the blood, and to enable more patients to benefit from individualized therapy in the future, liquid biopsy experts at all DKTK sites have joined forces to form a DKTK-funded consortium in 2021: EXLIQUID.
The Poly-CR-P study characterizes and compares patients with multiple osseous or lymphogenous metastatic prostate cancer, as well as with bone metastases from other primary tumors/histologies.
The "CovEx" study is investigating which people develop symptoms of fatigue after an acute Covid-19 infection. Both psychological and biological markers are being analyzed.
In the REDESIGN study, tumor cells are taken from blood and tissue samples and transferred to special cell cultures (organoids). These models help to investigate the reaction of the tumor cells to various therapies and changes in the genetic material. The aim is to find more individual treatment options if the tumor does not respond to standard therapy. In addition, patients' understanding of the role of these models in the future of cancer treatment is being researched.
Cancer patients often have a higher risk of muscle loss, which can lead to more complications and a longer recovery time after an operation. Causes include difficulty swallowing, problems with nutrient absorption and increased energy consumption by the body. The study will measure energy metabolism, metabolic products and body composition to better understand how muscle loss occurs in cancer patients. The aim is to develop therapies that prevent this loss and improve recovery.
The aim of the study is to find biological markers that predict how well a treatment for pancreatic cancer will work. Laboratory tests are used to examine the tumor in order to decide before treatment whether it will be successful or whether another treatment is more suitable.
The aim of the study is to find biological markers that predict how well the radiochemotherapy will work and how the disease will develop. For this purpose, tumor cells in the laboratory environment are exposed to the same treatment that you receive. At the end, the response of the tumor in the body is compared with that in the cell culture. In addition, tumor components such as proteins, genes and RNA are examined in order to better predict whether the tumor will recur.
Despiste modern treatment the prognosis in advanced gastric or colon cancer with peritoneal metastases is poor. Curation is not possible, but quality of life and survival can be improved with chemotherapy. A combination of surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has improved survival in less pronounced cases. However, recurrence rates are high and standardized treatment approaches are not yet available. In this study, organoid models will be used to test the best HIPEC treatments for each patient and to investigate resistance to therapy.
General information can be found here:
A clinical biobank is a facility that collects human biospecimen such as tissue, blood, DNA, serum or other body fluids. It processes and stores them according to strict quality standards. These samples are obtained from patients in the context of diagnostics and treatment, with the aim of passing them on to scientists for various research purposes. The work of a biobank is subject to strict data protection and ethical-regulatory requirements and controls. Samples and associated data are stored in encrypted form and only passed on to researchers in encrypted form.
Patients decide at the start of treatment whether samples are to be stored at BioBank Dresden and give their written consent, which can be withdrawn at any time. If the patient consents, the attending physician will take one or more biosamples (such as tissue, blood or urine) as part of the diagnostics or follow-up during an operation or a follow-up appointment. A small proportion of the samples that are not required for diagnostics are transferred to the BioBank Dresden. Nevertheless: Priority always is ensuring the diagnosis.
After you have donated your samples, they are processed according to defined standards.
The samples are stored at very low temperatures to preserve their quality and integrity. This includes storage temperatures of -80°C or even lower, such as storage in gaseous nitrogen at below -190°C . Storage at extremely low temperatures slows and halts biodegradation, preserving the samples for later research purposes.
To protect your privacy and your personal data, your samples and data that directly identify you (name, date of birth, address, etc.) are replaced by a code (pseudonymization) after sampling.
If a research project that is related to your disease, is being carried out, the scientist in question can request your and many other samples from BioBank Dresden. The request is made under strict ethical and data protection guidelines. To ensure that your privacy and your personal data remain protected, the coded samples and data are coded again (= double pseudonymization). In addition, before your samples are provided, the research project is reviewed and approved by a panel of experts and an ethics committee; the samples are only made available to the research project by BioBank Dresden if the evaluation is positive.
IMPORTANT: Your consent to donate is voluntary you are free to decide whether and to what extent you wish to give your consent. You also have the option of withdrawing your consent at any time, in which case your samples will be properly disposed by the biobank.
Medical care and treatment always come first, regardless of whether you decide to donate samples to the biobank or not. Your consent to sample collection and donation for research purposes is a separate decision that is made independently of your treatment.
If you have any questions about BioBank Dresden and your samples, you can contact us at any time.
Further questions about the work of a biobank can be answered on the website https://www.biobanken-verstehen.de/.