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Published on: September 2, 2025
Patients and Methods of the PATH Biobank - A Resource for Breast Cancer Research
A Waldmann1, T Anzeneder2, A Katalinic3
1Institut für Sozialmedizin und Epidemiologie, Lübeck.
Insights
The Patients' Tumour Bank of Hope (PATH) biobank offers valuable breast cancer patient data and samples for research. It represents a largely untapped resource for timely scientific inquiry.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biobanking
- Clinical Data Management
Background:
- The Patients' Tumour Bank of Hope (PATH) biobank collects breast cancer patient samples (blood, tumor, normal tissue) and associated health data.
- This infrastructure supports research by providing a comprehensive dataset.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the PATH biobank's sample collection and patient demographics.
- To assess the representativeness of the PATH patient cohort compared to broader oncological care reports.
- To highlight the potential of the PATH biobank as a resource for breast cancer research.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative data (mean values, standard deviations) and qualitative data (absolute and relative incidences) were analyzed for patients diagnosed between 2006-2009.
- Statistical significance of demographic and clinical features was tested using ANOVA and chi-squared tests.
- Oncological care was benchmarked against reports from the West German Cancer Society (WBC) and Disease Management Programs (DMP).
Main Results:
- High availability of samples: 59% tumor tissue, 62% normal tissue, 92% blood serum.
- A follow-up rate of 75.5% (2697 out of 3573 women) was achieved, with follow-up patients not significantly differing from the overall cohort.
- Physicians were the primary information source; younger women utilized multiple sources, including the internet.
Conclusions:
- The PATH biobank patient cohort is only slightly selected, making it comparable to data from WBC and DMP reports.
- The PATH biobank is an underutilized resource for breast cancer research, available upon request and study protocol evaluation.
- The biobank facilitates rapid investigation of current research questions without extensive recruitment.
Abstract:
Introduction: The foundation PATH (Patients' Tumour Bank of Hope) collects in a tumour bank samples of blood, tumour, and tumour-near normal tissue from breast cancer patients and supplements them systematically with health-care data. Material and Methods: For patients from the diagnosis years 2006-2009 quantitative data were evaluated with the help of mean values and standard deviations while for qualitative data absolute and relative incidences were assessed. Demographic and clinical features of women who used different numbers of information sources were tested for statistical significance by means of ANOVA and χ2 tests. The benchmark report of the WBC and two DMP reports were used to compare oncological care. Results: For research purposes tumour tissue samples are available for 59 % of the cases, normal tissue for 62 % and blood serum samples for 92 %. From 3573 women (diagnoses 2006-2009), a total of 2697 women (75.5 %) took part in follow-up. The characteristics of the follow-up patients did not relevantly differ from those of all the patients. The responsible physician was named as the most important source of information about the disease. Young women in particular consulted several sources and also used the internet to obtain information. Discussion: Compared with data on therapy from WBC and the DMP breast cancer in Bavaria or, respectively, North Rhineland reports, the PATH patients represent an only slightly selected sample. The PATH biobank is a (still) poorly used data and sample source, which is made available upon request and positive evaluation of the study protocol. Thus, it is possible to address current questions in a short time without having to undertake extensive recruiting procedures.
