Need for a Dedicated Ophthalmic Malignancy Clinico-Biological Biobank: The Nice Ocular MAlignancy (NOMA) Biobank

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Ophthalmic malignancies refer to rare, highly diversified, aggressive neoplasms. Unlike other types of solid tumors, tissue biopsy is not recommended for intraocular malignancies so a limited number of tissue samples are available for translational research programs. To date, very few biobanks dedicated to ophthalmic malignancies have been reported. The aim of this article was to present the challenges raised by ophthalmic malignancies in order to obtain biospecimens for research purposes, and the biobank dedicated to ophthalmic malignancies set up in our institution (Côte d’Azur University, Nice, France) was detailed. There is an urgent need to develop ocular malignancy biobanks to enhance translational research projects, develop international collaborations, and, ultimately, optimize customized medicine for the treatment of these tumors. ABSTRACT: Ophthalmic malignancies include various rare neoplasms involving the conjunctiva, the uvea, or the periocular area. These tumors are characterized by their scarcity as well as their histological, and sometimes genetic, diversity. Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary intraocular malignancy. UM raises three main challenges highlighting the specificity of ophthalmic malignancies. First, UM is a very rare malignancy with an estimated incidence of 6 cases per million inhabitants. Second, tissue biopsy is not routinely recommended due to the risk of extraocular dissemination. Third, UM is an aggressive cancer because it is estimated that about 50% of patients will experience metastatic spread without any curative treatment available at this stage. These challenges better explain the two main objectives in the creation of a dedicated UM biobank. First, collecting UM samples is essential due to tissue scarcity. Second, large-scale translational research programs based on stored human samples will help to better determine UM pathogenesis with the aim of identifying new biomarkers, allowing for early diagnosis and new targeted treatment modalities. Other periocular malignancies, such as conjunctival melanomas or orbital malignancies, also raise specific concerns. In this context, the number of biobanks worldwide dedicated to ocular malignancies is very limited. The aims of this article were (i) to describe the specific challenges raised by a dedicated ocular malignancy biobank, (ii) to report our experience in setting up such a biobank, and (iii) to discuss future perspectives in this field.