Hope for OTHERS (Our Tissue Helping Enhance Research & Science): research results from the University of Pittsburgh rapid autopsy program for breast cancer

Breast cancer affects 1/8 of women throughout their lifetimes, with over 90% of cancer deaths being caused by metastasis. However, metastasis poses unique challenges to research, as complex changes in the microenvironment in different metastatic sites and difficulty obtaining tissue for study hinder the ability to examine in depth the changes that occur during metastasis. Rapid autopsy programs thus fill a unique need in advancing metastasis research. Here, we describe our protocol and processes for establishing and improving the US-based Hope for OTHERS (Our Tissue Helping Enhance Research and Science) program for organ donation in metastatic breast cancer. As of August 2024, we consented 114 patients and performed 37 autopsies, from which we collected 551 unique metastatic frozen tumor samples, 1244 FFPE blocks, 90 longitudinal liquid biopsy samples and developed 14 patient-derived organoid and 8 patient-derived xenograft models. We report in-depth clinical and histopathological information and discuss extensive new research and novel findings in patient outcomes, metastatic phylogeny, and factors in successful living model development. Our results reveal key logistical and protocol improvements that are uniquely beneficial to certain programs based on identifiable features, such as working closely with patient advocates, methods to rescue RNA quality in cases where tissue quality may degrade due to time delays, as well as guidelines and future expansions of our program.

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Publication Details

Journal
Breast Cancer Research
Published
2025-06-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-025-02014-9
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.81

Funders

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article

Hope for OTHERS (Our Tissue Helping Enhance Research & Science): research results from the University of Pittsburgh rapid autopsy program for breast cancer

Neil Carleton, Laura Savariau, Julia Foldi, Tanner Bartholow et al.
3 citations
Breast Cancer Research
Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
2.81
article

Hope for OTHERS (Our Tissue Helping Enhance Research & Science): research results from the University of Pittsburgh rapid autopsy program for breast cancer

Neil Carleton, Laura Savariau, Julia Foldi, Tanner Bartholow, Oscar F. Lopez‐Nunez, Jennifer Xavier, Megan E. Yates, Daniel Geisler, Geoffrey Pecar, Abdalla M. Wedn, Nolan Priedigkeit, Jie Bin Liu, Rohit Bhargava, Partha Pratim Roy, Lori Miller, Adrian V. Lee, Adam Brufsky, Dixcy Jaba Sheeba John Mary, Christine Hodgdon, Amanda M. Clark, Naomi Howard, Daniel D. Brown, Zheqi Li, Olivia McGinn, Margaret Rosenzweig, Ashuvinee Elangovan, Alexander Chih-Chieh Chang, Marija Balić, Alan Wells, Kai Ding, Ye Cao, Steffi Oesterreich, Lauren Brown, Hunter Waltermire, Kanako Mori, M Cody, Shannon Puhalla, Stephanie Walker, Christopher Deible
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Breast cancer affects 1/8 of women throughout their lifetimes, with over 90% of cancer deaths being caused by metastasis. However, metastasis poses unique challenges to research, as complex changes in the microenvironment in different metastatic sites and difficulty obtaining tissue for study hinder the ability to examine in depth the changes that occur during metastasis. Rapid autopsy programs thus fill a unique need in advancing metastasis research. Here, we describe our protocol and processes for establishing and improving the US-based Hope for OTHERS (Our Tissue Helping Enhance Research and Science) program for organ donation in metastatic breast cancer. As of August 2024, we consented 114 patients and performed 37 autopsies, from which we collected 551 unique metastatic frozen tumor samples, 1244 FFPE blocks, 90 longitudinal liquid biopsy samples and developed 14 patient-derived organoid and 8 patient-derived xenograft models. We report in-depth clinical and histopathological information and discuss extensive new research and novel findings in patient outcomes, metastatic phylogeny, and factors in successful living model development. Our results reveal key logistical and protocol improvements that are uniquely beneficial to certain programs based on identifiable features, such as working closely with patient advocates, methods to rescue RNA quality in cases where tissue quality may degrade due to time delays, as well as guidelines and future expansions of our program.

Breast Cancer ResearchVol. 27(1)
Broad Institute (US), Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US), University of Pittsburgh (US), TB Alliance (US), Magee-Womens Research Institute (US), Precision Therapeutics (United States) (US), UPMC Health System (US), Theranostics (New Zealand) (NZ), Bioengineering Center (RU), Precision Research (United States) (US), NSABP Foundation (US), Philadelphia University (US)
University of Pittsburgh, Susan G. Komen, National Institute for Health and Care Research, National Institutes of Health, Center for Research Computing, University of Pittsburgh
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
2.81
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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