Abstract
The success of personalized medicine in the oncology clinic is very dependent on the results from a translational research effort to identify individual and host molecular biomarkers to enable proper selection of anti-cancer therapy. For this to happen, it is necessary to obtain timely access to high-quality biological samples of both host and tumor tissues and biological fluids. At the Segal Cancer Center, we have initiated several prospective sample collections based on research-driven breast biopsies in different contexts, including primary and metastatic breast lesions in patients receiving specific treatments. We here describe some of the challenges involved in such a translational research program and our experience in setting up biopsy-driven research protocols, highlighting the human aspects of conducting these complex enterprises.
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This work was supported by funding from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec Réseau de Cancer and from Genome Québec.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Aguilar-Mahecha, A., Diaz, Z., Buchanan, M. et al. Making personalized medicine a reality: the challenges of a modern translational research biopsy-driven program in an academic setting: the Segal Cancer Center experience. J Med Pers 9, 104–111 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12682-011-0100-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12682-011-0100-z