NCI Colon Cancer Tissue Microarray Case Sets

The NCI Colon Cancer TMAs provide high statistical power for comparisons of marker values between colon cancers of different stages and between colon cancers that recurred within a few years of diagnosis versus colon cancers that remained recurrence free. The array includes tissue from cancer cases representing four different colon cancer stages, normal colon epithelium (obtained at colon cancer surgeries and obtained from patients without cancer undergoing surgery for diverticulitis), and tissue from adenomatous colon polyps. Cell line controls and non-colon normal tissue controls are also provided on the TMAs.

**Table 1.** Specimens represented in the Colon Progression TMA case sets.
Type of Core	Case Set #1	Case Set #2	Case Set #3	Case Set #4	Total
*Stage I colon cancer*	12	13	12	12	49
*Stage II colon cancer*
a. Recurred <= 5 years after diagnosis	8	6	6	6	26
b. Followed and not recurred within 5 years of diagnosis	18	18	17	17	70
c. Not recurred but not followed a minimum of five years	5	7	7	7	26
*Stage III colon cancer*
a. Recurred <= 5 years after diagnosis	15	19	15	16	65
b. Followed and not recurred within 5 years of diagnosis	15	14	16	15	60
c. Not recurred but not followed a minimum of five years	5	3	6	5	19
*Stage IV colon cancer*	13	13	12	14	52
Normal tissue from cancer-free patients undergoing surgery for diverticulitis	10	10	10	10	40
*Normal colon tissue matched to colon cancer patient*
Stage I patient	2	1	2	1	6
Stage IIa patient	1	1	1	1	4
Stage IIb patient	1	1	1	1	4
Stage IIc patient	1	1	1	1	4
Stage IIIa patient	1	1	1	1	4
Stage IIIb patient	1	1	1	1	4
Stage IIIc patient	1	1	1	1	4
Stage IV patient	1	1	1	1	4
Adenomatous colon polyp (from patient without cancer)	9	9	10	9	37
Total colon tissue cores	119	120	120	119	478

*Cell line controls*
CLC-a: SW403	2	2	2	2	8
CLC-b: HT-29	2	2	2	2	8
CLC-c: Caco-2	2	2	2	2	8
CLC-d: SW48	2	2	2	2	8
CLC-e: Colo205	2	2	2	2	8
CLC-f: HCT-15	2	2	2	2	8
*Normal non-colon tissue controls*
NNC-a: Kidney	2	2	2	2	8
NNC-b: Endometrium	2	2	2	2	8
NNC-c: Prostate	2	2	2	2	8
NNC-d: Breast	2	2	2	2	8
Total control cores	20	20	20	20	80

Grand Total Cores	139	140	140	139	558

To construct these arrays a collection of 478 colon tissue specimens were selected and divided into four non-overlapping case sets, case sets 1-4. Each case set consists of 119-120 colon tissue specimens plus controls as described in Table 1. Each case set was arrayed into four replicate TMA blocks to address tissue heterogeneity as illustrated in Figure 1.

We currently provide material from two of the four replicate blocks for each case set. An investigator receives a minimum of 2 sections from case sets 1-4, a total of 8 sections. If an investigator wants more than the minimum, sections can be provided from the other array blocks. An example of the map of one TMA section is available.

Figure 1.

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Figure 1. Four cores are removed from each donor block in a case set. One of these cores is inserted into each of 4 recipient array blocks to create replicate blocks A-D for each case set. A minimum of 2 sections, one from each of 2 of the replicate array blocks, is provided.