CAP Hosts Public Comment Period for New Cancer Biomarker Templates for Breast, Lung, and Colon

In an effort to improve consistency and completeness in reporting results of cancer biomarker testing, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has produced new cancer biomarker reporting templates for Breast, Lung, and Colon. These templates were developed primarily to respond to pathologist user feedback about timing of reporting and structural consistency of ancillary studies data elements in the CAP Cancer Protocols. The development of these templates has been a collaborative effort between the CAP, the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), and many other participating organizations.

The cancer biomarker reporting templates are intended to encompass all important data elements for routinely assessed tumor markers for each site, as well as some optional markers. Once these templates are approved by the CAP for general use, they will replace the Ancillary Studies sections of their corresponding CAP cancer protocols.

Prior to the release of these new biomarker reporting templates, the CAP will host a public comment period. You can review the revisions and submit feedback online. The public comment period will run until December 31, 2012. Please note that submitted comments are not instantly available for review and will be posted on a weekly basis.

The Cancer Biomarker Reporting Workgroup would appreciate your feedback on these new biomarker reporting templates. Thank you in advance for taking the time to review these and submit your responses.