title: Working with Human Tissues for Translational Cancer Research.
abstract: Medical research for human benefit is greatly impeded by the necessity for human tissues and subjects. However, upon obtaining consent for human specimens, precious samples must be handled with the greatest care in order to ensure integrity of organs, tissues, and cells to the highest degree. Unfortunately, tissue processing by definition requires extraction of tissues from the host, a change which can cause great cellular stress and have major repercussions on subsequent analyses. These stresses could result in the specimen being no longer representative of the site from which it was retrieved. Therefore, a strict protocol must be adhered to while processing these specimens to ensure representativeness. The desired assay(s) must also be taken into consideration in order to ensure that an optimal technique is used for sample processing. Outlined here is a protocol for tissue retrieval, processing and various analyses which may be performed on processed tissue in order to maximize downstream production from limited tissue samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reuben
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Vancheswaran
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gopalakrishnan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Institutional Tissue Bank, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Heidi E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.affiliation: Department of Genomic Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Christine N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Austin-Breneman
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; zcooper@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Zachary A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; jwargo@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Wargo