IZS Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta Veterinary Biobank

CEROVEC

Introduction

The National Reference Center for Veterinary and Comparative Oncology (CEROVEC) of Genova – Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta (www.izsto.it) represents the headquarter of the Animal Tumor Registry, in which a wide collection of animal neoplastic tissues and data have been collected and stored during years. It’s possible also thanks to the contribution provided by an extensive network of Veterinary practitioners. Currently, about 1000 histological samples are stored in the facilities of CEROVEC.

Biological material

Intraoperative suspected spontaneous neoplasms samples, of domestic animals (mainly cats and dogs), fixed in 10% buffered formalin, received by the oncological diagnostic laboratory of CEROVEC, are processed as routin procedure (reduction, processing, paraffin embedding, cutting microtome and stained with hematoxylin and eosin). The histological examination, according to the WHO “International histological classification of tumors of domestic animals”, coded by the ICD-O (International Classification of Diseases for Oncology), is performed. Each sample is accompanied by its histological diagnosis, ICD-O code, anamnestic data, indications on the lesion topograpy and surgery.

Specimens are evaluated through their inclusion in the annual ring tests organized by CEROVEC: only the neoplasias characterized by a concordance level at least equal to 75% with the total of the histopathological diagnoses obtained by participants are considered appropriate for the inclusion in the biobank’s casuistry.

For each case the paraffin-embedded tissue and the histological section stained with hematoxylin – eosin are obtained. Other histological sections are performed if required.

Quality management system

The IZSPLV laboratories, that supply biological resources to the Veterinary Biobanking, use testing methods performed according to UNI EN ISO/IEC 17025 quality system.

Opportunities

CEROVEC offers an opportunity to everyone that require it, to dispose of quality biological material useful to perform scientific research aimed to different activities (i.e. development of diagnostic and prognostic markers to understand the possible molecular alterations involved in certain types of cancer; identification of new therapeutic targets and evaluating the effectiveness of various class of drugs).