Hypothesis

The primary purpose of the tissue acquisition is to develop a database infrastructure linking information from protein expression analysis with clinical and epidemiologic data at the patient level.

Specific Aims

1. To identify patients preoperatively whose tumor type make them candidates to provide residual tissue samples.

2. Obtain informed consent and associated primary information relating to health behaviors, health history and other exposures that may be important in the evaluation of outcomes for the patient's disease.

3. Obtain and store residual tissue samples from diagnostic specimens plus a 3-5 cc sample of peripheral blood. The residual sample must be obtained under conditions that:

a. maintain the integrity of the specimen for diagnosis and pathologic staging.

b. Minimize degradative changes in RNA integrity and changes in gene expression

4.  Maintain information concerning the stored residual sample and selected clinical information in a coded database in a system separated from the database containing patient identifiers.

 5. Perform histological evaluation of residual specimens prior to molecular analysis to ensure that the specimen is, to the extent possible, homogeneous for either normal or neoplastic tissue.

Background and Significance

BEING REVISED

Diagnostic Distribution Charts for Ovary, Breast, Brain and Hematopoietic Tissue Samples