Rectrospect - a Retrospective Study of Treatment Response

Biopisies from patients diagnosed with rectal cancer between 2007-2019 will be cut into 4-6 micrometer thin sections for morphology and immunostaining. Every section will be numbered with a code that is connected to the patients personal identification number and the code list will be kept separately from the biopsies in a password protected file on the Sahlgrenska University Hospital server. Patient data and outcome regarding response to treatment will be collected from patient charts and the Swedish ColoRectal Cancer Registry, but all data will be numbered with the same code number and all results will be kept away from the code list. In order to achieve the stated aims, that is, to study how the molecular and cellular characteristics of the tumour and its surrounding microenvironment as well as the interaction of tumour cells and immune cells affect treatment response, several molecular and cellular techniques and assays may be applied.