Intratumour heterogeneity is well recognized in multiple cancer types and ultimately leads to therapeutic resistance. It also limits the ability of small samples to represent the whole tumour, having implications for diagnosis, molecular analysis and understanding of the tumour immune microenvironment. By blending- 'homogenizing'- leftover tumour tissue in excess of that required for diagnosistic purposes, one may create a more representative sample for analysis.
In order to establish the feasibility of homogenization as a potential companion diagnostic tool, our study aims to 1) evaluate how many surgical cases have left over tissue amenable to homogenization and 2) pilot homogenization across multiple tumour types. The molecular profile of the homogenate will be compared to that obtained from the diagnostic specimen using next generation sequencing techniques.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
800
Leftover surgical tissue homogenization
Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
London, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGThe percentage of cases from surgical lists with tumour remains greater than 1g across 8 tumour groups
Surgical lists will be generated providing cases of all surgeries containing excess tumour tissue. The tissue will be dissected and weighed to determine if tumour tissue available is greater than 1g
Time frame: 24 Months
Median time (in minutes) required for dissection of the leftover surgical tissue into tumour, tumour-adjacent and normal tissue
The time taken to dissected will be documented by recording the start and stop times of the procedure and noting this on a source document
Time frame: 24 Months
Median time (in minutes) required for the blending (actual homogenization) of each tissue type
The time taken to homogenize will be documented by recording the start and stop times of the procedure and noting this on a source document
Time frame: 24 Months
Difference in molecular profile between the diagnostic block and the homogenized sample. This will be measured by next generation sequencing techniques across the 8 primary tumour types
The molecular profile of the diagnostic block will be determined by next generation sequencing and the same will be done with the homogenized sample. This will allow a comparison to be made between the two sample types and determine the difference in molecular profile between the two
Time frame: 24 Months
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