Review

Ethical and technical considerations for the creation of cell lines in the head & neck and tissue harvesting for research and drug development (Part II): Ethical aspects of obtaining tissue specimens

Tahwinder Upile^1,2,3 , Waseem Jerjes^1,3 , Panagiotis Kafas⁴ , Sandeep U Singh¹ , Jaspal Mahil¹ , Ann Sandison⁵ , Colin Hopper^1,3 and Holger Sudhoff⁶

¹  Head & Neck Centre, University College London Hospital, London, UK

²  Head and Neck Department, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK

³  Department of Surgery, University College London Medical School, London, UK

⁴  Department of Oral Surgery and Radiology, School of Dentistry, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece

⁵  Department of Histopathology, Imperial College & Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK

⁶  Department of Otolaryngology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

author email corresponding author email

International Archives of Medicine 2009, 2:9doi:10.1186/1755-7682-2-9

Published:	3 April 2009

Abstract

Background

Although much has been published for the development of cell lines, these were lab based and developed for scientific technical staff.

Objective of review

We discuss the ethical implications of tissue retention and present a generic consent form (Part II). We also present a simple and successful protocol for the development of cell lines and tissue harvesting for the clinical scientist (Part I).

Conclusion

Consent is also more proximate and assurance can be given of appropriate usage. Ethical questions concerning tissue ownership are in many institutions raised during the current consenting procedure. We provide a robust ethical framework, based on the current legislation, which allows clinicians to be directly involved in cell and tissue harvesting.