ANZCHOG Biobanking Network Facilitating Precision Medicine For Pediatric Cancer Patients

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The ANZCHOG Biobanking Network was established in 2017 to promote and improve the biobanking of childhood, adolescent and young adult cancer samples at hospitals, research institutes, and Universities in Australia and New Zealand.

The Network’s mission is to accelerate progress in research and treatment outcomes for children and adolescents / young adults with cancer, through cooperative best biobanking practices.

The network is comprised of all 9 existing paediatric and adolescent/young adult cancer biobanks across Australia and New Zealand:

Featured Partners
  • Auckland Regional Tissue Bank, Auckland NZ
  • Cancer Society Tissue Bank, Christchurch NZ
  • Children’s Cancer Centre Tissue Bank, VIC
  • Children’s Cancer Institute Tumour Bank, NSW
  • Children’s Hospital at Westmead Tumour Bank, NSW
  • Monash Children’s Cancer Biobank, VIC
  • Queensland Children’s Tumour Bank, QLD
  • Telethon Kids Tumour Bank, WA
  • Women and Children’s Hospital Tumour Bank, SA

ANZCHOG Biobanking Network aims to improve research quality and patient care by:

  • Promoting best-practice biobanking within the network, through harmonisation of standard operating procedures for the acquisition, handling, storage, and distribution of high quality biospecimens for research.
  • Ensuring that biospecimens are used in a fair, ethical, and sustainable manner.
  • Improving quality and standardisation of clinical data.
  • Enhancing opportunities for national and international research collaborations.

The network is actively facilitating precision medicine. Recently the biobanking network contributed to the discovery of the genetic basis and cell of origin of mixed phenotype acute leukaemia (MPAL) [2]. The findings place MPAL on the spectrum of immature leukemias, providing a genetically informed framework for future clinical trials of potential treatments for MPAL.

A recent publication facilitated by the network demonstrated a patient level precision medicine approach to pediatric high-grade glioma [3]. The integrated precision medicine strategy was based on genomic tumor interrogation, followed by drug testing in vitro and in vivo using PDX animal models to identify actionable targets and treatment options in a clinically meaningful timeframe.

Sources:

  1. https://anzchog-bn.org/about-the-network/
  2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0436-0
  3. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15384047.2018.1491498