QUAlity biobanking iNvesTigating Urological Malignancies (QUANTUM)
Biobanking Biological Samples for Research in Urological Malignancies
Around 63,500 urological cancers, encompassing prostate, bladder, renal, testicular and penile cancers, are diagnosed each year in the UK, with five-year survival rates ranging between 55% and 100% (National Collaborating Centre for Cancer, 2015).
Like all cancers, urological cancers arise from changes in genetic material (DNA) that regulates how cells function. This has led us to understand that many urological cancers have common initiating changes in DNA – i.e. there are shared genetic origins.
QUANTUM Biobank is available to the research and clinical community with the aim to improve use of existing treatments and to develop new treatments for these conditions.
It will hold tissues collected from surgical specimens, blood, urine and metastatic samples (e.g. bone or lymphatic tissue) with the aim to allow study of common and specific changes in the cause of urological cancers.
Our principle aims are:
- To coordinate the collection and storage of samples for urological cancer research.
- To provide access to high quality human samples in accordance with ethical and regulatory standards.
- To increase understanding of urological cancers to improve patient outcomes.
The scope of QUANTUM is to study the biology of urological cancers, improve diagnosis, define better prognostic/predictive biomarkers, improve use of current therapeutics, and aid design of novel therapies.
QUANTUM Biobank will support scientific research into urological cancers, as well as experimental research that could translate into early phase trials or extend and support findings from clinical trials including early and late stage trials.
