Wales Cancer Biobank

The Wales Cancer Bank (WCB) was set up in 2004 and consented the first patient in 2005. The project is hosted by Cardiff University and receives funding from the Welsh Government, Cancer Research Wales and Velindre Charitable funds. A Cancer Bank is literally a collection of tissue and blood which has been collected from patients where cancer is a possible diagnosis and is being stored to facilitate future research into cancer. Statistics suggest that four out of ten people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their life. Cancers are complex diseases and it is an on-going quest to understand how they develop, spread and can be treated. The development of more effective, targeted treatment for cancer depends on increased understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the initiation of the tumour, its progression to metastatic disease and response and resistance to treatment. Research studies rely on the availability of high quality biological material from patients with cancer and large studies are needed to correlate biology with clinical outcome. The Welsh population is relatively stable and this makes it an ideal cohort to collect and study. Linkage with the all Wales cancer clinical database (CANISC) enables good correlation of science with clinical follow-up. This will eventually enable the results from hundreds of research projects to be integrated and linked to clinical outcome and this will be an invaluable source of data for bioinformatics specialists to examine. All the data collected is being stored on a database housed in the NHS to ensure security and confidentiality The WCB currently consents patients in 12 hospitals around Wales with specially trained research nurses and clinical teams.

Services

  • Tissue micro array creation
  • Nucleic acid extraction

Existing samples:

  • Hodgkin's disease (disorder)
  • Malignant neoplasm of connective tissue (disorder)
  • Malignant neoplasm of endometrium of corpus uteri (disorder)
  • Malignant neoplasm of skin (disorder)
  • Malignant neoplasm of upper respiratory tract (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of adrenal gland (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of anal canal (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of biliary tract (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of breast (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of cervix (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of colon (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of kidney (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of lung (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of nasal sinuses (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of oral cavity (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of ovary (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of pancreas (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of penis (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of prostate (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of salivary gland (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of small intestine (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of stomach (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of testis (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of thyroid gland (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of urinary bladder (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of vagina (disorder)
  • Malignant tumor of vulva (disorder)
  • Malignant tumour of oesophagus

Networks

  • Confederation of Cancer Biobanks
  • Scientist.com

Contact Information

Email:
parry-jonesa@cf.ac.uk
Address:

Cardiff University
A2, Main Building
University Hospital of Wales
Heath Park
Cardiff
Cardiff
CF14 4XN
Wales

Last Updated: 05/09/2023


Annual Statistics

Year Access Requests Received Access Requests Approved
Internal External Commercial Internal External Commercial
2015 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2016 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2017 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2018 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2019 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2020 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2021 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2022 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2023 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2024 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A