The Scale, Collections, and Biospecimen Distribution of Grade A Tertiary Hospital Biobanks in China: A National Survey

Abstract

Chinese clinical biobanks were built rapidly in grade A tertiary hospitals. However, the general information of biorepositories in China remained largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the size, collections, biospecimens distribution and other characteristics of Chinese biobanks in grade A tertiary hospitals. In 2018, we launched a national survey among biobank leaders to provide a comprehensive understanding of Chinese grade A tertiary hospital biobanks. A total of 70 biobank managers or directors completed an online questionnaire to collect information about the biorepositories. Nearly 20% of biobanks stored over one million specimens, while almost one-third of biobanks stored 50–200,000 specimens. In general, plasma and serum were the specimens most commonly stored. For the use of collections, biospecimens were most commonly applied by internal clinical departments. Further analyses revealed that the large-scale biobanks were characterized by earlier establishment, more types of specimens in storage and distribution compared with small-scale biobanks. Moreover, specimens in large-scale biobanks were more commonly used for basic research (62.86% vs. 34.29%, P = 0.017) and clinical research (57.14% vs. 28.57%, P = 0.016). Large-scale biobanks also had more opportunities to cooperate with domestic research institutes (34.29% vs. 5.71%, P = 0.003). Our survey revealed diversity in collections, distribution and utilization of biospecimens among Chinese grade A tertiary hospital biobanks. Although the biobanks had relatively large collections, the underutilization of stored biospecimens and lack of sharing could hamper clinical and biological research.

Positive association between research competitiveness of Chinese academic hospitals and the scale of their biobanks: A national survey

“…A total of 70 biobank managers from the eligible biobanks finished the survey, reaching a response rate of 59.3%. In our previous research, the scales, collections, and biospecimen distribution were analyzed in these tertiary hospital biobanks 11 . The hospitals that were listed in the 2018 STEM and 2018 Fudan Hospital Rankings were included in this study.…”

“…In our previous research, the scales, collections, and biospecimen distribution were analyzed in these tertiary hospital biobanks. 11 The hospitals that were listed in the 2018 STEM and 2018 Fudan Hospital Rankings were included in this study. In addition, general hospital characteristics, STEM scores, and Fudan hospital ranking scores were also collected (Figure 1 ).…”

“…In 2018, we conducted an online survey to learn the current conditions of Chinese academic hospital biobanks. 11 In the present study, we mainly investigated whether the science and technology capacity, evaluated by the STEM scores or Fudan Hospital Rankings, was associated with the scales and other characteristics of biobanks in Chinese hospitals.…”

Breast Cancer in Asia: Incidence, Mortality, Early Detection, Mammography Programs, and Risk-Based Screening Initiatives

“…Biobanks are an important component of personalized health and medicine, and they contribute significantly to scientific advancement in population-based disease stratification [ 201 ]. In Asia, the number of fresh deposits has recently increased in Japan, Korea, and China [ 202 , 203 , 204 , 205 ]. In Singapore, the Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium Cancer Database and Tissue Banks platform combines existing databases of national repositories to provide access to different data, including specimen type, clinically annotated data, and OMICS data.…”

Breast Cancer in Asia: Incidence, Mortality, Early Detection, Mammography Programmes, and Risk-based Screening Initiatives

“…Biobanks are an important component of personalized health and medicine, and they contribute significantly to scientific advancement in population-based disease stratification [177]. In Asia, the number of fresh deposits has recently increased in Japan, Korea, and China [178][179][180][181]. In Singapore, the Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium Cancer Database and Tissue Banks platform combines existing databases of national repositories to provide access to different data including specimen type, clinically annotated data, and OMICS data.…”