Commentary on Improving Biospecimen Utilization by Classic Biobanks: Identifying Past and Minimizing Future Mistakes.

Many classic biobanks collect more human tissues than they distribute, leading to increased inventories, unnecessary storage, increased expenses, and reduced chargeback income. This situation is a result of biobanks operating without well-defined goals, having incorrect views of the potential number of investigators who will utilize specimens, and collection of biospecimens without adequately considering the need for specific tissues by investigators. These deficiencies frequently lead to unrealistic plans for biospecimen utilization and biobanks that are larger than necessary. For example, tissue collections usually are not periodically compared with biospecimen distribution and modified accordingly. An ethical issue has arisen as to the acceptability of consenting patients for the use of their tissues in research without a realistic planned approach to distribution of the biospecimens and their ultimate utilization in supporting biomedical research. These issues and how to minimize them are discussed in this commentary focused on how classic biobanks can improve utilization of their biospecimens.

[1]  G. Mcquillan,et al.  National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Biospecimen Program: NHANES III (1988-1994) and NHANES 1999-2014. , 2015, Vital and health statistics. Series 2, Data evaluation and methods research.

[2]  J. Kirkwood,et al.  Pitfalls in retrospective analyses of biomarkers: a case study with metastatic melanoma patients. , 2012, Journal of immunological methods.

[3]  Daniel Catchpoole,et al.  ‘Biohoarding’: treasures not seen, stories not told , 2016, Journal of health services research & policy.

[4]  Katherine C. Sexton,et al.  The effects of frozen tissue storage conditions on the integrity of RNA and protein , 2014, Biotechnic & histochemistry : official publication of the Biological Stain Commission.

[5]  Walter C Bell,et al.  Issues in collecting, processing and storing human tissues and associated information to support biomedical research. , 2010, Cancer biomarkers : section A of Disease markers.

[6]  Jeffery K. Taubenberger,et al.  Characterization of the 1918 influenza virus polymerase genes , 2005, Nature.

[7]  J. Gohagan,et al.  The PLCO Biorepository: Creating, Maintaining, and Administering a Unique Biospecimen Resource. , 2015, Reviews on recent clinical trials.

[8]  G. Henderson,et al.  Neglected ethical issues in biobank management: Results from a U.S. study , 2013, Life Sciences, Society and Policy.

[9]  G. Henderson,et al.  Characterizing biobank organizations in the U.S.: results from a national survey , 2013, Genome Medicine.

[10]  P. Borry,et al.  Closure of population biobanks and direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies , 2011, Human Genetics.

[11]  Katherine C Sexton,et al.  The Utilization of Biospecimens: Impact of the Choice of Biobanking Model. , 2019, Biopreservation and biobanking.

[12]  Daniel S. Atherton,et al.  Effects of Cold Ischemia on Gene Expression: A Review and Commentary. , 2016, Biopreservation and biobanking.

[13]  Daniel S. Atherton,et al.  Factors Affecting the Use of Human Tissues in Biomedical Research: Implications in the Design and Operation of a Biorepository. , 2016, Methods in molecular biology.

[14]  William E Grizzle,et al.  Biological, Medical, and Other Tissue Variables Affecting Biospecimen Utilization. , 2019, Biopreservation and biobanking.