Patients

Armani is the abbreviation for "Anatomical Resection of Liver MetAstases iN patIents With RAS-mutated Colorectal Cancer". The project/trial involves biospecimen from patients who have had anatomical resection of liver metastases from RAS-mutated rectal cancer. The ARMANI trial is the first prospective, randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of molecularly guided resection in patients with colorectal liver metastases. While these metastases could be removed regardless of the segmental boundaries of the liver, retrospective data favor anatomic resection in the subgroup of patients with a mutation in the RAS oncogene. Therefore, the ARMANI study will test the hypothesis whether molecularly guided anatomical resection improves the long-term outcome compared to non-molecularly guided anatomical resection in these patients.

Cancer is caused by pathological changes in the genetic material. As these changes vary greatly from patient to patient or even from tumor to tumor, it is important to know the individual pattern of the cancer cells. The MASTER program develops tailor-made therapy options based on these genetic changes. The NCT sites in Heidelberg and Dresden and all sites of the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK) are working closely together on this.

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a rare blood disorder in which the immune system produces too few blood platelets for no reason. This can lead to an increased risk of bleeding. As there are only a few patients with ITP, there is often a lack of sufficient data and experience. The German ITP Registry aims to collect information on the disease and its treatment in a central database. In addition, biomaterials can also be used for further research.

In order to better understand and describe the disease COVID-19, NAPKON (National Pandemic Cohort Network) has set itself the goal of capturing a high-quality group of patients. Comprehensive study protocols include over 90 standardized instructions for clinical tests and diagnoses, as well as imaging examinations with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). Biosamples are collected in a standardized manner, processed and safely stored in professional biobanks such as BioBank Dresden.

EXLIQUID stands for "Exploiting liquid biopsies to advance cancer precision medicine" - the use of information from liquid biopsies for more precise treatment.

EXLIQUID analyzes circulating tumor DNA in the blood of cancer patients in order to precisely monitor the response to therapy and thus detect new therapy resistance at an early stage. However, these methods cannot detect all new changes in tumor DNA, such as newly emerging resistance mutations. If a patient does not respond to therapy, it often remains unclear why this is the case. In a liquid biopsy, however, cell-free DNA is isolated from the blood and examined for tumor-specific changes. The aim is to discover the circulating tumor DNA in the cell-free DNA. Thanks to new advances in DNA analysis, such new tumour biomarkers can now be detected very sensitively and specifically in the blood, and to enable more patients to benefit from individualized therapy in the future, liquid biopsy experts at all DKTK sites have joined forces to form a DKTK-funded consortium in 2021: EXLIQUID.

The Poly-CR-P study characterizes and compares patients with multiple osseous or lymphogenous metastatic prostate cancer, as well as with bone metastases from other primary tumors/histologies.

© German Biobank Node (GBN)

A clinical biobank is a facility that collects human biospecimen such as tissue, blood, DNA, serum or other body fluids. It processes and stores them according to strict quality standards. These samples are obtained from patients in the context of diagnostics and treatment, with the aim of passing them on to scientists for various research purposes. The work of a biobank is subject to strict data protection and ethical-regulatory requirements and controls. Samples and associated data are stored in encrypted form and only passed on to researchers in encrypted form.

Patients decide at the start of treatment whether samples are to be stored at BioBank Dresden and give their written consent, which can be withdrawn at any time. If the patient consents, the attending physician will take one or more biosamples (such as tissue, blood or urine) as part of the diagnostics or follow-up during an operation or a follow-up appointment. A small proportion of the samples that are not required for diagnostics are transferred to the BioBank Dresden. Nevertheless: Priority always is ensuring the diagnosis.

© German Biobank Node (GBN)

After you have donated your samples, they are processed according to defined standards.
The samples are stored at very low temperatures to preserve their quality and integrity. This includes storage temperatures of -80°C or even lower, such as storage in gaseous nitrogen at below -190°C . Storage at extremely low temperatures slows and halts biodegradation, preserving the samples for later research purposes.

To protect your privacy and your personal data, your samples and data that directly identify you (name, date of birth, address, etc.) are replaced by a code (pseudonymization) after sampling.

If a research project that is related to your disease, is being carried out, the scientist in question can request your  and many other samples from BioBank Dresden. The request is made under strict ethical and data protection guidelines. To ensure that your privacy and your personal data remain protected, the coded samples and data are coded again (= double pseudonymization). In addition, before your samples are provided, the research project is reviewed and approved by a panel of experts and an ethics committee; the samples are only made available to the research project by BioBank Dresden if the evaluation is positive.