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NSABP Director of Pathology Soonmyung Paik, MD discusses the results of a study with a colleague.

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Pathology Fellows (from right) Dr. Olga Mejia, Yuske Taniyama and Chung Kim review cases enrolled in NSABP trials in preparation for molecular studies.

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Pathology Fellow Dr. Yuske Taniyama reviews cases enrolled in NSABP trials in preparation for molecular studies.

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Dr. Soonmyung Paik inspects a paraffin embedded tumor block from one of the patients enrolled in NSABP trials. The NSABP Tissue Bank, located in a large refrigerated room at the lab, is a collection of over 65,000 cases of breast and colon cancer. Designated by the National Cancer Institute as a national treasure, the banked tissue blocks are used not only for in-house research but also to support numerous outside investigators, both in the academic and private sectors.

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In the NSABP Tissue Bank, each of the breast and colon cancer cases is sorted according to specific protocols.

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Paraffin embedded tumor blocks used to be not suitable materials for gene expression studies. Studies conducted by the NSABP Division of Pathology Laboratory has changed that. Today the lab routinely interrogates expression levels of all human genes in paraffin-embedded tumor tissue.

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Histologist Terry Oeller cuts a thin section from the paraffin embedded tumor tissue as an initial step in a lengthy process required for gene expression profiling of tumor tissue.

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Histologist Melanie Finnigan processes stained slides that will be examined by pathology Fellows.

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Research Scientist Kay Pogue-Geile conducts the complex profiling of tumor tissue that is required for gene expression studies.

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Research Assistant Megan Reily processes gene expression data compiled from 200 cases of breast cancer treated with standard chemotherapy regimen in order to identify genes that may be used to predict response in individual patients before starting the treatment. The NSABP believes that in the near future this kind of test will become a routine practice in oncology.

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Dr. Soonmyung Paik reviews data from fluorescene in-situ hybridization for a marker called cMYC in a breast cancer case. The NSABP lab has discovered that cMYC is a strong predictor of response to a new antibody-based drug called trastuzumab that targets the HER2 receptor in breast cancer. This finding has profound implications for future drug development for many cancer types.