Usefulness of prestudy assessment of patient willingness to undergo tissue biopsy for correlative studies in a melanoma vaccine trial

Defining best practices for tissue procurement in immuno-oncology clinical trials: consensus statement from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Surgery Committee

Immunotherapy is now a cornerstone for cancer treatment, and much attention has been placed on the identification of prognostic and predictive biomarkers. The success of biomarker development is dependent on accurate and timely collection of biospecimens and high-quality processing, storage and shipping. Tumors are also increasingly used as source material for the generation of therapeutic T cells. There have been few guidelines or consensus statements on how to optimally collect and manage biospecimens and source material being used for immunotherapy and related research. The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Surgery Committee has brought together surgical experts from multiple subspecialty disciplines to identify best practices and to provide consensus on how best to access and manage specific tissues for immuno-oncology treatments and clinical investigation. In addition, the committee recommends early integration of surgeons and other interventional physicians with expertise in biospecimen collection, especially in clinical trials, to optimize the quality of tissue and the validity of correlative clinical studies in cancer immunotherapy.

Attitudes of patients with metastatic cancer towards research biopsies

AIM

To evaluate the attitudes of patients with different cancers towards research biopsies outside a clinical trial.

METHODS

Patients with metastatic cancer completed a questionnaire that assessed patients' willingness to consider research biopsies. Research biopsies were divided into two groups: biopsies performed as stand-alone procedures (research purposes only biopsy, RPOB) or performed during a clinically indicated biopsy (additional pass biopsy, APB). Factors analyzed included biopsy timing, biopsy site, sociodemographic information and information about prior trial participation. Univariate and multivariable analyses were conducted using random-effects logistic regression.

RESULTS

One hundred and sixty-five patients with cancer (40 melanoma, 37 colorectal, 32 breast, 30 lung, 26 prostate) completed the questionnaire. Patients with melanoma demonstrated the greatest willingness to consider a research biopsy compared to patients with other cancer types (P < 0.05). Patients' ethnicity, time since previous biopsies, time since metastatic diagnosis, and previous trial enrolment were all statistically significant for willingness to consider a research biopsy on univariate analysis. When adjusting for statistically significant variables on univariate analysis, the odds of patients considering APBs were 14.6 times greater than RPOBs (P < 0.0001). Patients were also more willing to consider having blood or skin taken for research purposes (P < 0.0001) compared to liver and bone biopsies.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with cancer show a greater willingness to consider APBs compared to RPOBs, and biopsies performed at less invasive body sites. There are differences in the attitudes of patients with different cancers towards research biopsies. Further research addressing motivations and barriers to research biopsies should be considered to increase the availability of this important resource.