Abstract
Biobanks play a crucial role in "-Omics" research providing well-annotated samples to study major diseases, their pathways and mechanisms. Accordingly, there are major efforts worldwide to professionalize biobanks in order to provide high quality preservation and storage of biological samples with potentially greater scientific impact. Biobanks are an important resource to elucidate relevant disease mechanisms as well as to improve the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of both pediatric and adult cardiovascular disease. High-quality biological sample collections housed in specialized bio-repositories are needed to discover new genetic factors and molecular mechanisms of congenital heart disease and inherited cardiomyopathies in order to prevent the potential risk of having a fatal cardiac condition as well as to facilitate rational drug design around molecular diseases (personalized medicine). Biological samples are also required to improve the understanding the environmental mechanisms of heart disease (environmental cardiology). The goal of this paper is to focus on preanalytical issues (informed consent, sample type, time of collection, temperature and processing procedure) related to collection of biological samples for research purposes. In addition, the paper provides an overview of the efforts made recently by our Institute in designing and implementing a high-security liquid nitrogen storage system (-196°C). We described the implementations of reliable preservation technologies and appropriate quality control (the right temperature, the right environment, fully traceable with all possible back-up systems) in order to ensure maximum security for personnel as well as the quality and suitability of the stored samples.
Highlights
The establishment of biobanks around the world has become an integrated part of modern healthcare [1, 2]
Validated biomarkers may provide information to be used for the risk/predisposition, diagnosis, screening, monitoring of prognosis and prediction of response to treatment [1,2,3,4]
In accordance with applicable law and ethical principles pertaining to the protection of human subjects (the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005), UNESCO Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (1997), Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (1964, last revised 2008), biological samples should be acquired only with the informed consent of participants, who, transfer for free their powers on the biological samples to the biobank, defining the limits within which they can be used [5, 29]
Summary
The establishment of biobanks around the world has become an integrated part of modern healthcare [1, 2]. In 2009, the potential of a biobank for research purposes has been acknowledged among 10 ideas that are changing the world [3], and at least 179 biobanks exist in the United States, most of which were established in the last 10 years (2). The storage of human samples (blood samples, isolated cells and fractions) represents a great opportunity for the medical science in order to discover biomarker and molecular signatures of most common diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and diabetes. Validated biomarkers may provide information to be used for the risk/predisposition, diagnosis, screening, monitoring of prognosis and prediction of response to treatment [1,2,3,4].
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