Development of an archival system for surgical cancer samples from atomic-bomb survivors

Summary

The latest paper regarding number of solid cancer cases in the Life Span Study (LSS) cohort between 1958 and 1998 reported it as 17,448, of which the majority of cases requiring surgical procedures are believed to have undergone surgery at major hospitals in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Such surgical cancer samples (in paraffin blocks) are maintained independently at such hospitals. Some hospitals, however, are forced to consider discarding the samples due to the lengthy storage they have to commit to and the difficulty they have in securing storage space. In order to carry out pathological studies, such as in-depth molecular biological research on radiation carcinogenesis in the LSS cohort, long-term storage of such samples needs to be assured. The objective of this study is to develop an archival system for surgical cancer samples from atomic-bomb survivors in collaboration with pathologists of the major hospitals in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For development of this system, surgical samples from the LSS cohort members stored at each hospital will be identified and reviewed for their storage status and usability in future studies. Upon identification of such samples, each hospital will be requested to store them over an extended period of time. When it becomes difficult for a hospital to continue maintaining the samples, they will be transferred to and stored at RERF. In addition to this research protocol (RP)’s collaborating investigators and their organizations, other major hospitals and their pathologists in Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be requested to participate in this RP. RERF will create and manage the database about all stored samples. This RP determines the procedures of collaborating research projects in which the storage samples will be used and the guidelines for the utilization, and the participants in this RP should respect them.

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