Personalized Medicine

Cancer Patients

Cancer patients can work with their physicians to arrange for sending their primary and/or metastatic tumors to INCELL for culture, cryostorage and/or testing.

STEPS PRIOR TO SURGERY:

1. Contact INCELL for Information.
2. Request Information.
3. Sign Contract Agreement.
4. Order Collection Kit.
5. Coordinate with surgeon and site.
6. Keep solutions cold.
7. Provide kit to surgeon or site before surgery
8. Have surgeon or assistant use sterile methods to mince tissue and aseptically transfer to collection container with transport solution.
9. Ship collected tissue (after removal of any pathology or test specimens) for morning delivery to INCELL.
10. INCELL receives, processes, and stores tissue.

INCELL will process and cryostore the tumor cells. Patients can also have their white blood cells separated and stored as guided by the physician. The cells may be sent to a diagnostic or genetic laboratory for additional testing. Alternatively, with approval and guidance of the patient, the stored cells may be tested or sent to a laboratory performing a relevant and approved clinical protocol. This might be INCELL or another laboratory. The overall goal is to personalize the tests and analytical steps toward rational diagnostics and therapies that may lead improved cancer patient outcomes.

Parathyroid Adenoma Patients

Patients with parathyroid adenoma (a benign type of tumor) generally undergo surgery to remove the tumor mass. This is called parathyroidectomy. The tissue of any remaining healthy parathyroid glands can continue to produce parathyroid hormone as part of normal metabolism. However, more than one parathyroid gland may be unhealthy or the removed tissue is not compensated for by the remaining tissue. The ability to maintain homeostasis after surgery varies among patients. If too much tissue is removed or the other parathyroid tissue is not providing function, then a patient may benefit from an autologous transplant rather than requiring hormone replacement therapy. This is not always known at the time of surgery. Thus, the patient may elect the option to have his/her surgically removed parathyroid adenoma tissue sent to INCELL for processing and cryostorage so that the transplant option may be available. The storage period is usually 1 to 2 years post-surgery.

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is made by the parathyroid glands, found in the neck. Credit: National Cancer Institute www.nci.gov.

Other references on-line. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002931.htm https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Blausen_0533_Parathyroid_adenoma.png