ViBiBa: Virtual BioBanking for the DETECT multicenter trial program - decentralized storage and processing.

BACKGROUND: Liquid Biopsy (LB) in the form of e.g., circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a promising non-invasive approach to support current therapeutic cancer management. However, the proof of clinical utility of CTCs in informing therapeutic decision-making for e.g., breast cancer in clinical trials and associated translational research projects is facing the issues of low CTC positivity rates and low CTC numbers - even in the metastasized situation. To compensate for this dilemma, clinical CTC trials are designed as large multicenter endeavors with decentralized sample collection, processing and storage of products, making data management highly important to enable high-quality translational CTC research. AIM: In the DETECT clinical CTC trials we aimed at developing a custom-made, browser-based virtual database to harmonize and organize both decentralized processing and storage of LB specimens and to enable the collection of clinically meaningful LB sample. METHODS: ViBiBa processes data from various sources, harmonizes the data and creates an easily searchable multilayered database. RESULTS: An open-source virtual bio-banking web-application termed ViBiBa was created, which automatically processes data from multiple non-standardized sources. These data are automatically checked and merged into one centralized databank and are providing the opportunity to extract clinically relevant patient cohorts and CTC sample collections. SUMMARY: ViBiBa, which is a highly flexible tool that allows for decentralized sample storage of liquid biopsy specimens, facilitates a solution which promotes collaboration in a user-friendly, federalist and highly structured way. The source code is available under the MIT license from https://vibiba.com or https://github.com/asperciesl/ViBiBa.

Biological status of adult patients with cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common autosomal disorder in the Caucasian population. The main goal of the study was to assess the biological condition of adult patients with CS. Data of 90 CF patients aged 18-31 were considered. The biological condition was determined by the measurement of somatometric traits and the nutritional status. The results show a considerable physical retardation and a poor nutritional status of the studied patients. Nearly 45% of the patients showed symptoms of malnutrition, ranging from slight undernutrition to emaciation. The results, however, show a considerable variability of data among the CF patients compared with the healthy population. A significant relationship between the type of mutation and nutritional status was demonstrated.

On the time course of retina damage and regeneration after intravenous application of vincristine as monitored by visual light response.

The alkaloid vincristine is used for the chemotherapy of tumours in man. In rabbits and rats it is known to cause alterations in the retina, such as a globular deformation of the photoreceptor outer segments. The electroretinograms of human patients treated with vincristine of an equivalent dose, however, did not indicate considerable retina destruction as had been anticipated. In order to explain this discrepancy a comprehensive study was performed using the retina of albino rats which is electrophysiologically very well characterized. After vincristine injection, electron micrographs of the retina as well as extracellular recordings of its electric activity dependent upon the time p.i. consistently showed that transient retinal defects appeared in a mosaic-like distribution. Small areas completely degenerated and did not show any electric activity whereas other areas were normal. Therefore, transretinal measurements such as the electroretinogram should represent an average effect of the electric response of the retina. Half-life time for development of the maximum vincristine effect was 50 h whereas the regeneration of a full electrophysiological photo response was obtained in a further 70 h. The vincristine effect could be used as a model for the generation of some retinal diseases.