Overview
What It Is
The Archipelago of Ovarian Cancer Research (AOCR) is a Dutch national prospective biobank in which blood, ascites, and tumor tissue of patients with ovarian cancer are collected. It is a collaboration between all 19 Dutch hospitals in which ovarian cancer surgery takes place, aimed at facilitating large-scale, high-quality fundamental and translational ovarian cancer research.
Eligibility & Enrollment
Patients aged 16 years and older with suspected or diagnosed ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer are recruited for participation. After inclusion, blood samples are taken at various predefined time points before and during treatment. In the case of a diagnostic paracentesis or biopsy, residual biomaterials are also stored.
Current Scale
Over three years, 1,093 patients were enrolled across 17 hospitals, resulting in the collection of 1,339 tissue samples and 2,280 blood samples. Of the 523 patients with available clinical and pathological data, 74% had primary ovarian cancer. Among these, 73.4% were diagnosed with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, and 80.9% presented with advanced-stage disease. Surgery was performed on 93% of patients with primary ovarian cancer, and chemotherapy was administered to 90.4% of these.
Data Linkage
The AOCR biobank uses clinical and pathological data as collected and recorded by the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR) and the Dutch Pathology Registry (PALGA), rather than collecting data independently. This ensures that clinicians do not have to invest extra time and effort to collect and deliver data specifically for the AOCR biobank.
IT Infrastructure
The AOCR biobank developed an innovative, reusable IT infrastructure capable of adaptation to various biobanks, enabling cost-effective and efficient implementation and management of biobank IT systems. Patient data is managed with privacy-compliant pseudonymization and linkage to national registries.
Governance & Sustainability
The implementation and first four years of collection are financed by an infrastructural grant from the Dutch Cancer Society. Sustainability beyond the funding period is planned through incorporation of biobanking budgets in future grant applications and fees from external researchers and commercial parties using the stored biomaterials. Researchers using the biobank are also encouraged to return data and materials generated from their analyses back to the biobank.
Significance
The AOCR is a relatively recently established (early 2020s) but rapidly growing resource. Its nationwide coverage of all Dutch ovarian cancer surgery centers, prospective design, multi-timepoint blood collection, and linkage to national cancer registries make it a strong platform for translational research — particularly studies of treatment response, disease evolution, and biomarker discovery in high-grade serous ovarian cancer, which dominates the cohort.
Notes
Established 2020. Decentralized model. 93% had surgery, 90.4% received chemotherapy.