The PROCURE multi-site Biobank has been created by a team of urologists, scientists and pathologists of four university hospitals from Quebec province, collecting biospecimens and clinical data of patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) for their cancer and who are followed longitudinally during remission or recurrence of their disease.
From 2006 to 2013, the biobank enrolled 2007 men. Blood (serum, plasma, buffy coat), urine, and prostate tissues (frozen and FFPE) obtained at RP were banked. Clinico-pathological data were collected and registered in Advanced Tissue Management software database (ATiM) and updated periodically. Follow-up visits permitted blood and urine recollection. Clinical data (PSA value, recurrence, treatments) were updated for at least five years post-RP for 86% of the cohort.
In 2021, more than 10 500 collections of blood and urine have been registered, including 8 500 at follow-up visits. A majority of participants (87%) have provided additional samples after RP. A tissue microarray composed of benign and cancer tissue cores from 1637 participants was generated. Blood and tissue DNA along with RNA and histopathology of frozen vs fixed tissues confirmed the reliability and quality of this longitudinally banked material.
