To Örebro University

Background

Regional healthcare integrated biobanking of liquid based cytology (LBC) of cervical cancer screening (CCS) samples has been ongoing at Örebro Biobank since 2012. Samples from Dalarna-, Värmland and Örebro County are biobanked as are gional collaboration project with the aim of collecting samples covering the introduction of the national human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination program. This sample collection provides a unique possibility to follow the effect of the vaccination program by, for example, investigating the prevalence of HPV and changes of HPV genotypes over time.

Methods

LBC samples are collected using ThinPrep (Hologic) methodology and aliquoted in 96-well plates (500ul) using the Freedom Evo 150 (Tecan) automated robot before long term storage in minus 25C freezers. All information regarding the samples is processed by the regional laboratory information management system LabWare-LIMS™.

Results

The sample collection currently holds close to 400 000 samples that have been collected, aliquoted and stored in the same standardized manner. Of the 500ul that is biobanked, 200ul is reserved for the patients’ own care while 300ul is available for research. This population based sample collection includes the majority of agegroups (ranging from 23 to 65+ yrs) which enables genetic-, registry-, methodological and quality studies.

Discussion

Several research groups are using this sample collection and numerous papers have been published within the research field. We invite additional research groups to utilize the samples in both national and international collaborations.