Basic principles of biobanking: from biological samples to precision medicine for patients

Abstract

The term "biobanking" is often misapplied to any collection of human biological materials (biospecimens) regardless of requirements related to ethical and legal issues or the standardization of different processes involved in tissue collection. A proper definition of biobanks is large collections of biospecimens linked to relevant personal and health information (health records, family history, lifestyle, genetic information) that are held predominantly for use in health and medical research. In addition, the International Organization for Standardization, in illustrating the requirements for biobanking (ISO 20387:2018), stresses the concept of biobanks being legal entities driving the process of acquisition and storage together with some or all of the activities related to collection, preparation, preservation, testing, analysing and distributing defined biological material as well as related information and data. In this review article, we aim to discuss the basic principles of biobanking, spanning from definitions to classification systems, standardization processes and documents, sustainability and ethical and legal requirements. We also deal with emerging specimens that are currently being generated and shaping the so-called next-generation biobanking, and we provide pragmatic examples of cancer-associated biobanking by discussing the process behind the construction of a biobank and the infrastructures supporting the implementation of biobanking in scientific research.

Keywords: Biobanking; Biospecimens; Cell lines; Preanalytical phase; Standardization; Tissue specimens.

Fig. 1

Basic principles of biobanking. Information is organized by exploiting the 5Ws’ approach (why, what, who, where and when), emphasizing definition, classification systems, key aspects, international standards required for accreditation and infrastructures needed to ensure quality and networking. (This image was created with BioRender: https://biorender.com/)

Fig. 2

Biobanking for precision medicine in oncology. Practical example of the potential of biobanking for precision medicine in oncology. The pathway of a given patient is illustrated depicting the possible contribution of biobanking in the patient’s clinical history, either in early or advanced disease stage. Provided that informed consent is signed by the patient, different biological specimens may be collected. In the preoperative phase, samples can be obtained through fine-needle aspiration and core-needle biopsy. The same applies to metastatic lesions that are typically investigated to confirm the origin of the disease and to perform biomarker analyses for additional therapeutic strategies. In early-stage disease, patients undergo surgical resection. In each step, the pathologists play a key role in managing the preanalytical phase and ensuring that sampling is appropriate and does not impact the final diagnosis. Specimens (in particular surgical specimens) can be freshly sampled and used for the preparation of disease models (such as primary cell culture, PDO and PDX). Tissues can also be snap frozen and are always formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) for diagnostic purposes. From tissue sections, proteins and nucleic acids for high-throughput genomic analyses can be obtained. Finally, tissue sections can now be systematically digitally scanned to foster the creation of a digital pathology archive. This wealth of tissue-related data stemming from different analyses can be exploited for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) approaches. Blood, urine, faecal samples and swabs can also be collected throughout the course of the disease. Longitudinal sampling may be performed during therapy and over the follow-up period. Circulating tumour cells, nucleic acids and vesicles can be isolated from blood samples (liquid biopsy). (This image was created with BioRender: https://biorender.com/)