Abstract
Endometrial cancer is the commonest gynecological cancer, with an incidence predicted to escalate by a further 50–100% before 2025, due to the rapid rise in risk factors such as obesity and increased life expectancy. Endometrial cancer associated mortality is also rising, depicting the need for translatable research to improve our understanding of the disease. Rapid translation of scientific discoveries will facilitate the development of new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic strategies. Biobanks play a vital role in providing biospecimens with accompanying clinical data for personalized translational research. Wide variation in collection, and pre-analytic variations in processing and storage of bio-specimens result in divergent and irreproducible data from multiple studies that are unsuitable for collation to formulate robust conclusions. Harmonization of biobanking standards is thus vital, in facilitating international multi-center collaborative studies with valuable outcomes to improve personalized treatments. This review will detail the pitfalls in the biobanking of biosamples from women with cancer in general, and describe the recent international harmonization project that developed standardized research tools to overcome these challenges and to enhance endometrial cancer research, which will facilitate future development of personalized novel diagnostic strategies and treatments.
Highlights
Endometrial cancer (EC) is the 4th most common cancer in women, and it is the commonest gynecological cancer
Whilst the incidence of many other cancers is reducing, and in general, cancer-associated death rates are declining, the incidences of EC and EC-associated mortality rates are on the rise [2]
We considered the common variations in the sample collection process; for example, the samples could be obtained during the diagnostic process or during the therapeutic procedure
Summary
Endometrial cancer (EC) is the 4th most common cancer in women, and it is the commonest gynecological cancer. Whilst the incidence of many other cancers is reducing, and in general, cancer-associated death rates are declining, the incidences of EC and EC-associated mortality rates are on the rise [2]. In the UK, there has been a 43% increase in age-standardized incidence of EC compared to the 1990s [1], accounting for about 3% of all female deaths (2012). UK survival figures indicate the mortality rates from. The rise in EC rates is a global phenomenon, as shown by European and North American studies due to reasons detailed later in this review. In Norway, the estimated rise in the incidence of EC is
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