Human Foetal Kidney samples
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Control Samples for Analysis of Wilms Tumour tissues
IRAS ID
356362
Contact name
Bettina Wilm
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 10 days
Research summary
We are performing an analysis of tissue samples of patients with Wilms Tumour under research ethics of the Vivo Biobank and the IMPORT/Umbrella studies.Wilms Tumour is a cancer in the kidney that forms probably before birth by some abnormal growth in the kidney while it forms. It is believed that the cancer in Wilms Tumour is caused because some developing kidney tissues continue behaving as if they were still in the formation stages, which means kidney cells are less mature and divide to grow in mass.
To support the analysis of Wilms Tumour samples, we need to compare our results with human kidney samples obtained from pre-term foetuses. We will obtain consent to use archived kidney samples from pre-term stillborn babies or from scheduleded termination. These human foetal kidney samples have been obtained from postmortem examinations, with consent of the parent(s). The kidneys in these babies were not fully formed and cells are less mature.
Our research question regarding Wilms Tumour sample analysis is: Does the tumour microenvironment in the tumour allow an escape mechanisms of cancer cells when treated with chemotherapy, which may lead to tumour relapse?The archived human foetal kidney samples will provide an important reference point for marker analysis in our study, which allows us to confirm and validate our observations from the Wilms Tumour samples.
REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/PR/0493
Date of REC Opinion
28 Apr 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion