UK launches tumor bank to match maligned Biobank

NATURE MEDICINE • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 5 • MAY 2003 491

NEWS

British cancer researchers welcomeplans to pool the UK’s small cancerdatabases into a virtual tumor bank,even as the Medical Research Council(MRC), which will fund part of the pro-ject, is smarting from criticism aboutthe UK Biobank database.

The tumor bank, launched by theNational Cancer Research Institute, willreceive £1 million for each of five yearsfrom three primary sources: theDepartment of Health, the charityCancer Research UK and the MRC. Thetumor bank will complement UKBiobank, a genetic database to helpstudy gene-environment interaction incommon diseases.

George Radda, chief executive of theMRC, says both databases will be valu-able. “The new approach, using compu-tational biology to handle vastamounts of data...is terribly impor-tant,” he says. “It is really going to bethe way of solving some of the majorhealth problems.”

A report from the House ofCommons’ Science and TechnologySelect Committee, published 25 March,slammed the MRC’s allocation of fundsand raised ethical concerns aboutBiobank, such as police access to thedatabase. Critics of the project haverecommended that legal safeguards beput in place to protect volunteers be-fore recruitment begins, and that vol-unteers be made aware of the risks.They also recommend that the govern-ment invest in research into encryptiontechniques to ensure the data is secure.

Among cancer researchers contactedby Nature Medicine, news of the plannedNational Cancer Tissue Resource—asthe tumor bank will be called—has re-ceived an enthusiastic response, how-ever. “I think this is an excellent ideaand well overdue,” says John Timms,leader of the cancer proteomics groupat the Ludwig Institute for CancerResearch, University College London.

In relatively rare cancers such asovarian cancer, researchers have notbeen able to characterize molecularmarkers that would predict a patient’sresponse to drugs. “The problem hasbeen access to tissue coupled with verygood clinical information,” says JamesBrenton of the Hutchison/MRCResearch Centre in Cambridge.

The tumor bank will take advantageof National Health Service resources to

standardize sample collection and en-sure tissue data are stored with the rele-vant pathological and clinical data.Tissue collection centers will be linkedwith processing centers, where re-searchers will perform a battery ofanalyses involving DNA, RNA and pos-sibly proteomics. Investigators will usetissue microarrays to store and analyzelarge quantities of data provided byhundreds of patients in clinical trials,and store the data anonymously in acentral information system.

Meanwhile, an MRC subcommitteeon 4 April released a consultation docu-

The Indian government has agreedto fund research on the humblegoat, Capra hircus, as a source ofcells for liver transplants. If monkeytrials planned for June confirm en-couraging results in rats, goat hepa-tocytes may be transplanted intoIndian patients suffering from acuteliver failure before the end of theyear.

“To our knowledge we are the firstto show that goat is an alternative topig for xenotransplantation,” saysChittoor Mohammed Habibullah,head of the Center for Liver Researchand Diagnostics at the Deccan Collegeof Medical Sciences. He and his col-leagues have also filed a US patent.

The Indian Department ofBiotechnology, which spent Rs 50 mil-lion (roughly $1 million) on the projectover the last four years, has granted Rs10.7 million for the monkey trials andfor potential human experiments. Theresearchers’ preliminary findings areextremely promising, says ManjuSharma, secretary to the department.

Based on in vitro comparative stud-ies, goat hepatocytes are similar tohuman fetal liver cells in both mor-phology and biochemical function,says Habibullah. In terms of hepaticfunctions like albumin synthesis, bileformation and converting ammoniainto urea, he adds, “goat hepatocytesare as good as liver cells from pig orhuman fetus.” Last year, his group de-signed a bioreactor module with en-capsulated goat hepatocytes—a crudebio-artificial liver support system like adialyzer for kidney failure patients—and demonstrated its ability to detox-

UK launches tumor bank to match maligned Biobank

ify ammonia to urea and to metabolizeglucose (Ind. J. Gastroenterol. 21, 55–58;2002).

Although pig liver cells are readilyavailable, various risks—such as immunerejection and transmission of endoge-nous retroviruses to recipients—limittheir use. Because Indians have for cen-turies bred goats for their milk, thehighly domesticated animals shouldhave a lesser chance of harboring virusesharmful to humans, Habibullah says.Goat hepatocytes may carry their ownshare of risks, such as prions or ruminantvirus infection, experts warn. But ascreening of 20 goats by the Hyderabad-based Veterinary Biological ResearchInstitute has turned up no knownpathogens or zoonotic diseases.

Habibullah says the “α-gal epitope”responsible for graft rejection is morepronounced on pig cells than on goatcells, suggesting goat cells are lesslikely to be rejected. For religious rea-sons, goats would also be more accept-able than pigs to Jews and Muslims.

K.S. Jayaraman, Hyderabad

ment on the council’s future invest-ment strategy, in which it recom-mended that the National Institute forMedical Research at Mill Hill, the oldestand largest of the MRC institutes, bescaled down and moved to anotherMRC site—possibly Addenbrooke’sHospital in Cambridge. According toRadda, this is part of the council’s ongo-ing work to make sure that the instituteremains viable in the post-genomic era,but the debate is still open. The consul-tation period ends in July, when thecommittee will consider its findings.

Laura Spinney, London

More than milk: Indian scientists find new use forthe simple goat.

Goats to de-liver cells for transplants in India

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