The ideal time to cryopreserve tumor tissue is as early as possible in your cancer journey, ideally at the time of initial diagnosis or surgical removal of the tumor.
Here’s why timing is critical:
- Before Treatment Begins (Most Important):
- “Native” Tumor Profile: This is when the tumor is in its most “native” state, unaffected by chemotherapy, radiation, or other systemic treatments. These treatments can induce changes in the tumor’s genetic makeup, protein expression, and overall biology. Preserving the pre-treatment tumor provides a baseline for understanding its original characteristics.
- Personalized Drug Screening: Many advanced personalized medicine techniques, such as growing tumor organoids or testing drug sensitivities ex vivo, require live, untreated tumor cells. Collecting tissue before treatment maximizes the chance of obtaining viable cells for these critical tests.
- Future Treatment Planning: If you face recurrence or develop resistance to initial treatments, having a pre-treatment sample allows for comparison with later biopsies. This can reveal how the tumor evolved and inform strategies for subsequent lines of therapy.
- Immunotherapy Development: For certain immunotherapies, like personalized cancer vaccines or tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, having fresh, untreated tumor tissue is often essential for manufacturing the therapeutic product.
- During Surgery or Biopsy (The Primary Opportunity):
- Minimizing Ischemia Time: Tissue degrades rapidly once it’s removed from the body (this is called “warm ischemia time”). To ensure the highest quality preservation of DNA, RNA, and proteins, you must cryopreserve tumor tissue to be processed and frozen as quickly as possible after removal. This typically happens in coordination with the surgical or biopsy procedure.
- Sufficient Sample Size: Surgery usually yields a larger tissue sample than a needle biopsy, providing more material for cryopreservation and a wider range of future analyses. However, even small biopsy samples can be preserved.
- Consideration for Recurrence or Progression (If Initial Preservation Wasn’t Done):
- If initial preservation wasn’t possible or considered, and the cancer recurs or progresses, a new biopsy or surgical removal at that time could still provide valuable tissue for cryopreservation. While this tissue might reflect the tumor’s altered state due to prior treatments, it can still offer insights into the current disease and guide future therapeutic decisions.
Who to talk to and what to expect:
- Discuss with your oncology team immediately: If you are considering tumor tissue cryopreservation, it’s crucial to discuss this with your surgeon and oncologist as soon as possible after diagnosis and before any procedures are scheduled.
- Specialized Biobanks/Services: Most routine hospitals primarily focus on FFPE (formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded) tissue for standard diagnostic purposes. For cryopreservation of viable tissue for advanced personalized medicine, you may need to coordinate with a specialized private biobank or a research-focused cancer center that offers these services.
- Logistics: The process involves careful coordination between the surgical team, pathology, and the cryopreservation service to ensure rapid and sterile handling of the tissue.
In essence, the best time is now, or rather, at the very first opportunity to cryopreserve tumor tissue is surgically accessible. This proactive step can significantly broaden your future treatment options and contribute to a more personalized and effective approach to fighting your cancer.
Recent Comments