Banking Brain Tumor Specimens Using a University Core Facility

Within the past three decades, the significance of banking human cancer tissue for the advancement of cancer research has grown exponentially. The purpose of this article is to detail our experience in collecting brain tumor specimens in collaboration with the University of Miami/Sylvester Tissue Bank Core Facility (UM-TBCF), to ensure the availability of high-quality samples of central nervous system tumor tissue for research. Successful tissue collection begins with obtaining informed consent from patients following institutional IRB and federal HIPAA guidelines, and it needs a well-trained professional staff and continued maintenance of high ethical standards and record keeping. Since starting in 2011, we have successfully banked 225 brain tumor specimens for research. Thus far, the most common tumor histology identified among those specimens has been glioblastoma (22.1%), followed by meningioma (18.1%). The majority of patients were White, non-Hispanics accounting for 45.1% of the patient population; Hispanic/Latinos accounted for 23%, and Black/African Americans accounted for 14%, which represent the particular population of the State of Florida according to the 2010 census data. The most common tumors found in each subgroup were as follows: Black/African American, glioblastoma and meningioma; Hispanic, metastasis and glioblastoma; White, glioblastoma and meningioma. The UM-TBCF is a valuable repository, offering high-quality tumor samples from a unique patient population.