by Spanish researchers have launched the world’s first biobank that stores living brain tissue samples collected from patients with metastatic brain cancer. This groundbreaking biobank provides a valuable resource for research and drug testing, with the collected data being made accessible to the global scientific community.
Typically, brain cancer research and drug testing rely on experimental models, such as mice. The search for patient samples only begins once a major discovery has been made, followed by the confirmation process in humans.
However, obtaining the necessary number of human samples can be time-consuming and often requires researchers to collaborate with other institutions while adhering to legal and ethical requirements. To address this challenge, scientists at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) have developed a solution in the form of a living tissue repository, or biobank, from patients with brain metastases.
Part of the National Brain Metastasis Network known as RENACER (the Spanish word for “rebirth”), the biobank allows patients undergoing brain metastasis surgery at any of RENACER’s 18 hospitals to donate a small portion of their brain tissue to the repository.
Since the cells are kept alive, they can be studied to evaluate their response to specific drugs. This paves the way for the creation of individual patient “avatars,” enabling the identification of the most effective and appropriate treatment. Additionally, RENACER has utilized RNA and exosome sequencing to profile over 150 brain metastases, storing the collected data in an open database accessible to the global scientific community.
The study’s authors, Manuel Valiente and Eva Ortega-Paíno, stated that research contracts have already been signed to exploit patient-derived organotypic cultures (PDOCs) as avatars. This advancement offers the potential to generate sensitivity or resistance biomarkers for specific drugs.
Organotypic culture systems enable the growth of complex biological tissues in a manner that replicates part of their normal physiology and function. However, ensuring the tissues stay “alive” requires a sophisticated logistics chain. After removal from the patient during surgery, the tissue is placed in a specially designed container containing a culture medium and maintained at a temperature between 4 °C and 8 °C. The tissue must reach the biobank within 24 hours. Once at the biobank, the tissue undergoes processing to create organotypic cultures, and it is divided into samples for future investigations.
The researchers have already witnessed the benefits of RENACER. As RENACER is associated with a network of hospitals, research findings can be rapidly translated into further clinical studies. For example, a biomarker discovered in experimental models is now part of a prospective multi-institutional study to evaluate its potential as a non-invasive method for predicting the response to radiotherapy.
The research team plans to enhance RENACER by incorporating brain imaging and neurocognitive evaluations to gain a more comprehensive understanding of relevant disease aspects and treatment responses. Moreover, the network’s applicability may extend beyond the brain.
While currently focused on the brain, RENACER acknowledges that patients with brain metastases often have disseminated disease affecting other organs. Therefore, collaboration with other networks specializing in extracranial metastases would ideally be established. With cancer patients predominantly succumbing to disseminated disease, the development of such an approach is considered crucial to bringing personalized medicine to metastatic disease, not limited to the primary tumor.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
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