Thoracic Oncology Tissue Bank
Since the mid-1990s the Thoracic Oncology Program has preserved specimens from more than one thousand surgically resected patient tumors, making the Thoracic Tissue Bank one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. Stored in liquid nitrogen, the snap frozen tissue samples include tumor tissue, normal tissue, blood, and, in some cases, bronchial mucosa and lavage.
The bank is a rich source of data-unique biological roadmaps that could one day illustrate how each patient's cancer developed. A state-of-the-art clinical database is currently being built to leverage this valuable resource and log all surgical procedures on patients who underwent surgery at UCSF for lung cancer, metastatic disease to the lung, benign disease, esophageal cancer, mesothelioma, and mediastinal tumors. The database then links patient clinical data to specimens in the tissue bank and will track all subsequent research performed on procured specimens.
The Thoracic Tissue Bank is at the core of our research efforts. From studying the molecular biology of chest cancers, developing novel targeted therapeutics, to establishing diagnostic assays, we make use of the tissue resources we have available.