Global post-mortem tissue donation programmes to accelerate cancer research.

Metastatic cancer represents the main cause of death in patients with cancer. However, basic and translational research is hampered by the limited availability of metastatic samples. In this context, post-mortem tissue donation programmes represent a complementary and attractive solution. Here, we highlight the opportunities and challenges, and outline why we believe this represents a global effort. Metastatic cancer represents the main cause of death in patients with cancer, but metastasis research is hindered by the limited availability of metastatic samples. In this Comment, Desmedt and Carey highlight the opportunities and challenges of post-mortem tissue donation programmes, which represent a complementary and attractive solution to overcome many of the hurdles in metastasis research.