The Florida Pancreas Collaborative Next-Generation Biobank: State-wide Infrastructure to Reduce Disparities and Improve Survival for a Racially and Ethnically Diverse Cohort of Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract Background Well-annotated, high-quality biorepositories provide a valuable platform to support translational research and discovery. However, most biorepositories have poor representation of minority groups, limiting the ability to address cancer health disparities and improve disease outcomes. This report describes the establishment of the Florida Pancreas Collaborative (FPC), the first state-wide prospective longitudinal cohort study and biorepository specifically designed to address the higher burden of pancreatic cancer (PaCa) in African Americans (AA) compared to Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) and Hispanic/Latinx (H/L). Methods We describe rationale for establishing the FPC and provide an overview of key stakeholders; study eligibility and design; ascertainment and recruitment strategies; and standard operating procedures (SOPs) developed to collect, process, store, and transfer biospecimens, medical images, and data. We also describe the customized cloud-based, secure data management platform built to facilitate recruitment, track study-related workflow, house data, and perform queries. We also present progress to date regarding recruitment and biobanking. Results The FPC consists of multidisciplinary teams from fifteen Florida medical institutions. From March 2019 through August 2020, 350 patients were assessed for study eligibility, 323 met inclusion/exclusion criteria, and 305 (94%) enrolled, including 228 NHW, 30 AA, and 47 H/L, with 94%, 100%, and 94% participation rates, respectively. A high percentage of participants have donated blood (87%), pancreatic tumor tissue (41%), computed tomography scans (76%), and baseline questionnaire data (62%). Conclusions This biorepository addresses a critical gap in PaCa research with the potential to advance basic, clinical, population-based, and translational studies intended to minimize disparities, increase quality of life, and reduce PaCa-related morbidity and mortality. Impact This multi-institutional infrastructure can serve as a prototype for development of similar resources across the country and disease sites.