The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a collaboration between the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), aims to generate comprehensive, multi-dimensional maps of the key genomic changes in major types and subtypes of cancer. TCGA has analyzed matched tumor and normal tissues from 11,000 patients, allowing for the comprehensive characterization of 33 cancer types and subtypes, including 10 rare cancers.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Genomic Data Commons (GDC) provides access to data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program. TCGA data is stored in the GDC and harmonized against a common reference genome. TCGA metadata is categorized and mapped to the GDC Data Model.
Program Summary
The TCGA program began as a three-year pilot in 2006 with an investment of $50 million each from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The TCGA pilot project confirmed that an atlas of changes could be created for specific cancer types. It also showed that a national network of research and technology teams working on distinct but related projects could pool the results of their efforts, create an economy of scale and develop an infrastructure for making the data publicly accessible. Importantly, it proved that making the data freely available would enable researchers anywhere around the world to make and validate important discoveries. The success of the pilot led the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to commit major resources to TCGA to collect and characterize more than 20 additional tumor types.
Supported Cancer Studies
NIH established TCGA to generate comprehensive, multi-dimensional maps of the key genomic changes in major types and subtypes of cancer. TCGA data in the GDC is available for the following tissues and associated cancer types:
- Breast - Breast Ductal Carcinoma, Breast Lobular Carcinoma
- Central Nervous System - Glioblastoma Multiforme, Lower Grade Glioma
- Endocrine - Adrenocortical Carcinoma, Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
- Gastrointestinal - Cholangiocarcinoma, Colorectal Adenocarcinoma, Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Stomach-Esophageal Cancer
- Gynecologic - Cervical Cancer, Ovarian Serous Cystadenocarcinoma, Uterine Carcinosarcoma, Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma
- Head and Neck - Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Uveal Melanoma
- Hematologic - Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Thymoma
- Skin - Cutaneous Melanoma
- Soft Tissue - Sarcoma
- Thoracic - Lung Adenocarcinoma, Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Mesothelioma
- Urologic - Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma, Clear Cell Kidney Carcinoma, Papillary Kidney Carcinoma, Prostate Adenocarcinoma, Testicular Germ Cell Cancer, Urothelial Bladder Carcinoma