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The flexibility of biobanking with the Bio-PIN system

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 11, page 895 (2011)Cite this article

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We thank Eric Vermeulen and colleagues for their recent correspondence in which they express their concerns about the Bio-PIN system that we described in our article (The Bio-PIN: a concept to improve biobanking. Nature Rev. Cancer 11, 303–308 (2011))1. While we welcome broad discussion of the system, a crucial first step is that it is properly understood. Vermeulen et al. (The BIO-PIN paradigm: 'access to' or 'return of' results? Nature Rev. Cancer 4 Nov 2011 (doi:10.1038/nrc3022-c1))2 assume that that the Bio-PIN system uses genotype identification. However, regardless of whether the Bio-PIN is based on short tandem repeats or on single nucleotide polymorphisms, the nucleotides involved are not part of any gene and are therefore not part of any genotype. Furthermore, the Bio-PIN system is anonymous, thus biological samples in that system cannot be used to assess the identity of the individuals that they originated from3.

In addition, Vermeulen et al. assume that individual donors cannot be directly approached to provide additional information to a biobank that uses the Bio-PIN system. However, this 'flaw' seems misplaced. For example, patients could register the fact that they are biobank donors in the medical facilities from which they seek care. When visiting these facilities those patients could be asked to interact anonymously with the biobank. Then they could, for example, approve future research on their samples (or not), update information, such as lifestyle data, or agree with (residual) specimens and/or test results being sent to the biobank, as discussed in our article1. It seems entirely plausible that when biobank donors consider the benefits of having their own electronic personal health record in their 'biobank account', they will be encouraged to regularly update their information.

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References

  1. Nietfeld, J. J., Sugarman, J. & Litton, JE. The Bio-PIN: a concept to improve biobanking. Nature Rev. Cancer 11, 303–308 (2011).

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  2. Vermeulen, E., van der Valk, P., Koevoets, J. J. M., Cornel, M. C. & Schmidt, M. K. The BIO-PIN paradigm: 'access to' or 'return of' results? 4 Nov 2011 (doi:10.1038/nrc3022-c1)

  3. Nietfeld, J. J. What is anonymous? EMBO reports 8, 518 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, J.J. Nietfeld is at the University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht 3584CX, The Netherlands.,

    J.J. Nietfeld

  2. Jeremy Sugarman is at the Berman Institute of Bioethics and School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore 21205, Maryland, USA.,

    Jeremy Sugarman

  3. Jan-Eric Litton is at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm SE-171 77, Sweden.,

    Jan-Eric Litton

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  1. J.J. Nietfeld
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  2. Jeremy Sugarman
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  3. Jan-Eric Litton
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Correspondence to J.J. Nietfeld.

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Competing interests

An international patent application has been filed by INTRESCO Ltd. J.J.N. has a potential future competing financial interest.

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Nietfeld, J., Sugarman, J. & Litton, JE. The flexibility of biobanking with the Bio-PIN system. Nat Rev Cancer 11, 895 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3022-c2

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