Post‐mortem tissue donation programs as platforms to accelerate cancer research

Abstract

Given recent advances in the treatment of cancer, patients are surviving longer but frequently develop treatment‐resistant and inoperable metastases. Biomedical research has advanced to the stage where in‐depth study of these lesions is feasible, with the goal of further refining our understanding of metastatic dissemination, therapeutic resistance and inoperable tumors. However, there is a lack of tissue specimens derived from multiple metastatic sites within the same patient that would permit the study of these processes. Furthermore, patients with rapidly progressing or metastatic disease are rarely candidates for surgery, making those most in need of innovation and discovery extremely difficult to study. For this reason, post‐mortem tissue donation programs are an approach that is quickly gaining traction in the cancer research community. Herein, we discuss what post‐mortem tissue donation entails, attitudes towards these procedures, and highlight important studies already utilizing these resources. In addition, we propose future directions for use of this tissue that can directly improve clinical management of advanced cancer patients.

The Underlying Biology and Therapeutic Vulnerabilities of Leptomeningeal Metastases in Adult Solid Cancers

“…These efforts have been severely hampered by the fact that leptomeningeal metastases are typically not amenable to biopsy or surgical resection, leading to the use of CSF-derived tumors cells as a proxy to study LM. Rapid autopsies have been suggested as a novel approach to procure large quantities of LM tissue for research purposes [ 101 ]. Furthermore, no animal models of spontaneous LM from the primary tumor site of an adult solid tumor type have been reported thus far, rendering it impossible to study the process of LM from beginning to end.…”

Research autopsy programmes in oncology: shared experience from 14 centres across the world

“…More recently, research autopsies have also been used to help to understand organ damage from COVID-19 [19,[28][29][30]. In oncology, multiple excellent autopsy programmes have been developed and have described their structure and logistics of approach [11,[16][17][18][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Most publications are, however, single programme reports and do not compare methodologies across locations in a structured way [16,32,38].…”

“…Research autopsies, aimed at collecting multiple patient samples within a short timeframe after death for the specific purpose of translational research, constitute an invaluable answer to this problem. Also termed rapid autopsy or postmortem tissue donation programmes, they importantly differ from clinical autopsies not only in their goals but also in their organisation [16–20]. The concept is not new and has been of great value in areas of research in which access to samples is problematic during life, such as neurological [21–25] and chronic (infectious) diseases [26,27].…”

Messaging White and Black Next of Kin in Advance to Promote Authorization for Tissue Donation

“…1 Tissues have greater public health implications and potentially touch the lives of many more patients than do solid organs 1 because of their many uses 2 and are critical for medical research. 3,4 Like organ donation, tissue donation is made possible by the altruism and generosity of families who choose, at a time of emotional crisis, to donate. The same legal framework mandating timely hospital referrals to organ procurement organizations (OPOs) and discussion of organ donation with next-of-kin (NOK) applies to tissue donation.…”