NAVIGATOR: an Italian regional imaging biobank to promote precision medicine for oncologic patients

Abstract

NAVIGATOR is an Italian regional project boosting precision medicine in oncology with the aim of making it more predictive, preventive, and personalised by advancing translational research based on quantitative imaging and integrative omics analyses. The project’s goal is to develop an open imaging biobank for the collection and preservation of a large amount of standardised imaging multimodal datasets, including computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography data, together with the corresponding patient-related and omics-related relevant information extracted from regional healthcare services using an adapted privacy-preserving model. The project is based on an open-source imaging biobank and an open-science oriented virtual research environment (VRE). Available integrative omics and multi-imaging data of three use cases (prostate cancer, rectal cancer, and gastric cancer) will be collected. All data confined in NAVIGATOR (i.e., standard and novel imaging biomarkers, non-imaging data, health agency data) will be used to create a digital patient model, to support the reliable prediction of the disease phenotype and risk stratification. The VRE that relies on a well-established infrastructure, called D4Science.org, will further provide a multiset infrastructure for processing the integrative omics data, extracting specific radiomic signatures, and for identification and testing of novel imaging biomarkers through big data analytics and artificial intelligence.

Data Model for the Comprehensive Management of Biobanks and Its Contribution to Personalized Medicine

“…In this context, one of the cutting-edge factors impacting biobank activity is digitalization and virtualization, with biobanks of images for precision medicine being a clear example [5]. Virtualization has innumerable advantages for biobanks, with digitized information associated with or derived from the analysis of samples from different platforms for biomedical research.…”

Magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound elastography in the context of preclinical pharmacological research: significance for the 3R principles

“…Important insights into the genetic basis of human disease are being brought by genome-wide association analyses, while systems biology approaches enhance the understanding of disease mechanisms by addressing networks, pathways and targets ( Yan et al, 2018 ). Combining imaging providing detailed anatomical and functional information of tissues and organs of the body with -omics approaches provides potential for improved diagnostics and better understanding disease progression, as shown recently in the context of oncology ( Zhu et al, 2015 ; Borgheresi et al, 2022 ; Fathi Kazerooni et al, 2022 ), multiple sclerosis ( Herman et al, 2018 ) as well as mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease ( Saykin et al, 2015 ) to name a few. Pursuing integration of imaging and -omics techniques in small rodents ( Chakraborty et al, 2017 ) opens the door for an improved characterization of models of disease without the necessity of increasing animal usage.…”