Data sharing in stem cell translational science: policy statement by the International Stem Cell Forum Ethics Working Party

Developing Policy for the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative: Going from National to International

Background: Scientific research is becoming an increasingly collaborative and global venture. The Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI), for instance, is an international Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research collaboration developed to address the increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases around the world. It comprises four separate but harmonized cohort trials in Canada, China, India, and South Africa. These cohorts will generate rich data and biosample sets that can be shared both within the HeLTI Consortium and with other researchers from around the world. Methods: To ensure the coordination and operation of these types of collaborative research initiatives, a standardized and harmonized governance model is required to regulate the processes and interactions between all involved actors. To develop the governance models, frameworks and related policies from other longitudinal cohort studies and biobanks were used, as were guidance documents on biobank and database governance and relevant literature on data and biobank governance. Results: This article outlines the key components of the governance model for the HeLTI Consortium, including management of the cohorts' respective databases and biobanks, access to data and biosamples, and considerations related to intellectual property and publications. Conclusion: Governance within international collaborative research ventures is critical to ensure the operations and benefits of these types of research apparatuses. Although this article focuses on the HeLTI Consortium as a model, it may nonetheless serve as a model for both current and future collaborative consortium-based research initiatives. Clinical Trial Registration Numbers: Canada, ISRCTN13308752; China, ChiCTR1800017773; India, ISRCTN20161479; South Africa, PACTR201903750173871.

Short tandem repeat profiling for the authentication of cancer stem-like cells

Colorectal and glioblastoma cancer stem‐like cells (CSCs) are essential for translational research. Cell line authentication by short tandem repeat (STR) profiling ensures reproducibility of results in oncology research. This technique enables to identify mislabeling or cross‐contamination of cell lines. In our study, we provide a reference dataset for a panel of colorectal and glioblastoma CSCs that allows authentication. Each cell line was entered into the cell Line Integrated Molecular Authentication database 2.1 to be compared to the STR profiles of 4485 tumor cell lines. This article also provides clinical data of patients from whom CSCs arose and data on the parent tumor stage and mutations. STR profiles and information of our CSCs are also available in the Cellosaurus database (ExPASy) as identified by unique research resource identifier codes.

Human cell lines obtained from cancer stem‐like cells represent an invaluable model for studying tumor properties. Cell line authentication by short tandem repeat (STR) profiling is an important tool to identify the potential mislabeling or cross‐contamination of cell lines. Here, the authors characterized 18 colorectal cancer stem‐like cell lines from 17 patients and 103 glioblastoma cancer stem‐like cell lines from 95 patients by STR profiling to create a reference dataset that allows the authentication of these cell lines and their identification through a unique research resource identifier. The results will help further ensure the reliability and reproducibility of research experiments.

Informatics Approaches for Harmonized Intelligent Integration of Stem Cell Research

As biomedical data integration and analytics play an increasing role in the field of stem cell research, it becomes important to develop ways to standardize, aggregate, and share data among researchers. For this reason, many databases have been developed in recent years in an attempt to systematically warehouse data from different stem cell projects and experiments at the same time. However, these databases vary widely in their implementation and structure. The aim of this scoping review is to characterize the main features of available stem cell databases in order to identify specifications useful for implementation in future stem cell databases. We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature and online resources to identify and review available stem cell databases. To identify the relevant databases, we performed a PubMed search using relevant MeSH terms followed by a web search for databases which may not have an associated journal article. In total, we identified 16 databases to include in this review. The data elements reported in these databases represented a broad spectrum of parameters from basic socio-demographic variables to various cells characteristics, cell surface markers expression, and clinical trial results. Three broad sets of functional features that provide utility for future stem cell research and facilitate bioinformatics workflows were identified. These features consisted of the following: common data elements, data visualization and analysis tools, and biomedical ontologies for data integration. Stem cell bioinformatics is a quickly evolving field that generates a growing number of heterogeneous data sets. Further progress in the stem cell research may be greatly facilitated by development of applications for intelligent stem cell data aggregation, sharing and collaboration process.

Responsible data sharing in international health research: a systematic review of principles and norms

BACKGROUND

Large-scale linkage of international clinical datasets could lead to unique insights into disease aetiology and facilitate treatment evaluation and drug development. Hereto, multi-stakeholder consortia are currently designing several disease-specific translational research platforms to enable international health data sharing. Despite the recent adoption of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the procedures for how to govern responsible data sharing in such projects are not at all spelled out yet. In search of a first, basic outline of an ethical governance framework, we set out to explore relevant ethical principles and norms.

METHODS

We performed a systematic review of literature and ethical guidelines for principles and norms pertaining to data sharing for international health research.

RESULTS

We observed an abundance of principles and norms with considerable convergence at the aggregate level of four overarching themes: societal benefits and value; distribution of risks, benefits and burdens; respect for individuals and groups; and public trust and engagement. However, at the level of principles and norms we identified substantial variation in the phrasing and level of detail, the number and content of norms considered necessary to protect a principle, and the contextual approaches in which principles and norms are used.

CONCLUSIONS

While providing some helpful leads for further work on a coherent governance framework for data sharing, the current collection of principles and norms prompts important questions about how to streamline terminology regarding de-identification and how to harmonise the identified principles and norms into a coherent governance framework that promotes data sharing while securing public trust.

The Sharing of Research Data in the Cell & Tissue Engineering Area: Is It a Common Practice?

The availability of research data sets is an important milestone because it can enhance the dynamics of research. This study aims to analyze the PubMed Central repository to determine the availability and type of raw data sets in Cell & Tissue Engineering journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports. The number and types of files were registered. The main finding of this study is that, beyond the mandatory deposit of data in specific repositories that some journals require, the exchange of data as supplementary material in the Cell & Tissue Engineering journals is not a common practice since researchers are still reticent to do so.

Ethical clinical translation of stem cell interventions for neurologic disease

The application of stem cell transplants in clinical practice has increased in frequency in recent years. Many of the stem cell transplants in neurologic diseases, including stroke, Parkinson disease, spinal cord injury, and demyelinating diseases, are unproven-they have not been tested in prospective, controlled clinical trials and have not become accepted therapies. Stem cell transplant procedures currently being carried out have therapeutic aims, but are frequently experimental and unregulated, and could potentially put patients at risk. In some cases, patients undergoing such operations are not included in a clinical trial, and do not provide genuinely informed consent. For these reasons and others, some current stem cell interventions for neurologic diseases are ethically dubious and could jeopardize progress in the field. We provide discussion points for the evaluation of new stem cell interventions for neurologic disease, based primarily on the new Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation released by the International Society for Stem Cell Research in May 2016. Important considerations in the ethical translation of stem cells to clinical practice include regulatory oversight, conflicts of interest, data sharing, the nature of investigation (e.g., within vs outside of a clinical trial), informed consent, risk-benefit ratios, the therapeutic misconception, and patient vulnerability. To help guide the translation of stem cells from the laboratory into the neurosurgical clinic in an ethically sound manner, we present an ethical discussion of these major issues at stake in the field of stem cell clinical research for neurologic disease.