OBJECTIVES:
1. To collect, catalog and store frozen samples of lung carcinoma and when possible, portions of involved lymph nodes, as well as adjacent grossly uninvolved lung tissue obtained from surgical specimens of patients undergoing surgical resection for previously untreated lung cancer as a source of quality DNA, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein for molecular analysis.
2. To collect, catalog and store frozen samples of blood pre- and post-resection from the same patients to provide a source of reference DNA to assess somatic mutations associated with tumor or preneoplastic "normal" lung, and to allow assessment of levels of circulating markers.
3. To associate these specimens with historical, clinical, pathological, and outcome information.
Grossly viable tumor and grossly normal lung tissue are identified and removed from patient surgical specimens and cryopreserved until shipment to the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) Lung Cancer Tissue Bank for future use in research. Blood specimens are also collected prior to surgery and at 4-12 weeks post-surgery (before the start of adjuvant therapy) and shipped immediately to the Tissue Bank.
