Advancing clinical and translational research in germ cell tumours (GCT): recommendations from the Malignant Germ Cell International Consortium
Cet article présente les recommandations du "Malignant Germ Cell International Consortium" pour créer une infrastructure durable permettant de faciliter l'acquisition d'échantillons biopsiques et de données cliniques qui reflètent la diversité des tumeurs germinales et permettront de faire avancer la recherche
Germ cell tumours (GCTs) are a heterogeneous group of rare neoplasms that present in different anatomical sites and across a wide spectrum of patient ages from birth through to adulthood. Once these strata are applied, cohort numbers become modest, hindering inferences regarding management and therapeutic advances. Moreover, patients with GCTs are treated by different medical professionals including paediatric oncologists, neuro-oncologists, medical oncologists, neurosurgeons, gynaecological oncologists, surgeons, and urologists. Silos of care have thus formed, further hampering knowledge dissemination between specialists. Dedicated biobank specimen collection is therefore critical to foster continuous growth in our understanding of similarities and differences by age, gender, and site, particularly for rare cancers such as GCTs. Here, the Malignant Germ Cell International Consortium provides a framework to create a sustainable, global research infrastructure that facilitates acquisition of tissue and liquid biopsies together with matched clinical data sets that reflect the diversity of GCTs. Such an effort would create an invaluable repository of clinical and biological data which can underpin international collaborations that span professional boundaries, translate into clinical practice, and ultimately impact patient outcomes.
British Journal of Cancer , article en libre accès, 2022