Barntumörbanken

In Sweden approximately 350 children are diagnosed with cancer each year. Today more than 85% of the patients will survive, even so, cancer is one of the major medical causes of childhood death. Moreover, the survivors often suffer from sequelae due to the treatment. Therefore, deeper biological knowledge regarding these malignancies is essential for improved survival and quality of life for affected children. The aim of the Swedish Childhood Tumor Biobank (Barntumörbanken, BTB) is to increase the understanding of pediatric solid tumors by providing infrastructure resources, biological samples and molecular/genomic data for research.

BTB has a multidisciplinary nation-wide collaboration with the six university hospitals that treat pediatric cancer patients. Fresh frozen tumors and blood samples are collected, and some additional specimen types including CSF, viable tumor cells, digital pathology slides, and parental blood. BTB registers, prepares and stores the biobank samples with linked patient information, as well as performs whole genome sequencing (WGS), whole transcriptome sequencing (WTS) and methylation array (MA) profiling. All according to established ethical permit and biobank agreements. The comprehensive genomic and molecular characterization is done at Science for Life Laboratory, were BTB in collaboration also develops bioinformatic pipelines. Moreover, internal variant databases and data portal structure for secure data/metadata organization, traceability and visualization are developed in BTB.

More than 2400 cases are now registered in BTB and approximately 60 000 samples collected and/or prepared. Around 1600 cases have been genomically characterized where BTB manages the generated data, including for the Genomic Medicine Sweden Childhood Cancer (GMS Barncancer) study where BTB is partly co-coordinating this national clinical implementation project for WGS and WTS analysis in the routine pediatric cancer care. BTB samples and/or generated data, including from GMS Barncancer, have so far been shared to more than 20 different research projects after formal application processes for secondary use. Sample and data access include medicolegal assessment followed by decision and specific agreements since sensitive material and information. BTB is moreover assisting several clinical studies with sample logistics, regulatory support and data analysis/interpretation.

BTB is a research project and infrastructure that systematically collects biological specimens and informed consent from more than 90% of the Swedish pediatric patients with solid tumors and produce and manage high quality data. The continuous usage of the samples and the omics data in approved studies and research projects will contribute to increased knowledge and likely have a positive impact on the future clinical care of children with cancer.