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Global post-mortem tissue donation programmes to accelerate cancer research

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Metastatic cancer represents the main cause of death in patients with cancer. However, basic and translational research is hampered by the limited availability of metastatic samples. In this context, post-mortem tissue donation programmes represent a complementary and attractive solution. Here, we highlight the opportunities and challenges, and outline why we believe this represents a global effort.

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Fig. 1: Challenges and opportunities of post-mortem tissue donation programmes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to acknowledge the Research Autopsy and Procurement Society as well as M. Maetens, F. Richard and the rest of the team of the UPTIDER programme (NCT04531696) for the insightful discussions and feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Translational Breast Cancer Research, Department of Oncology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Christine Desmedt

  2. Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Lisa A Carey

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  1. Christine Desmedt
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  2. Lisa A Carey
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Correspondence to Christine Desmedt.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Desmedt, C., Carey, L.A. Global post-mortem tissue donation programmes to accelerate cancer research. Nat Rev Cancer 24, 289–290 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41568-024-00683-w

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