Collaboration to Make Large Body of Cancer Cell Genomic Data Available to All Cancer Researchers

A new initiative is a network infrastructure and tools that enables the collection, analysis, and sharing of genomic profiling data and knowledge combined with the complete research pathway from laboratory bench to patient bedside.

Signifying another important step in the collaborative fight against cancer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK; London, UK) announced the release of genomic profiling data for over 300 cancer cell lines via the U.S. National Cancer Institute's (NCI; Bethesda, MD, USA) cancer Bioinformatics Grid (caBIG).

By releasing the cell line data via caBIG, GSK will be enabling other cancer research institutions to save considerable drug development time and capital in their future cancer therapeutic research.

"These data are valuable for many avenues of cancer research, and we are pleased to share them with the cancer community,” said Paolo Poletti, M.D., senior vice president, Oncology Medicines Development Center, R&D, GlaxoSmithKline. "Vast amounts of data are being generated in biomedical research and in order to realize the potential benefits of molecular medicine, scientists need to be able to access data in more timely and cost-efficient ways. The caBIG platform is an excellent tool to do just that.”

With the initiation of the human genome project, researchers have been able to identify, collect, and analyze cancer-cell line information in the laboratory. These breakthrough bodies of data have been used extensively in the discovery and development of innovative cancer therapeutics.

According to Dr. Richard Wooster, director of Translational Medicine Oncology, R&D, GSK, "Cataloging this type of information in a network like caBIG leads to a ready-made body of biologic information that can be mined by all cancer researchers to further everyone's understanding of cancer. In turn, we hope this data will further drive the identification of predictive biomarkers and lead to shorter, more directed clinical trials allowing us to bring drugs more quickly to patients who need them.”

The genomic data being shared by GSK through caBIG come from cell lines derived from a wide variety of tumors, including breast, lung, prostate, and ovarian cancers. Researchers at academic institutions, small research facilities, and non-profit organizations may benefit by not having to incur the high costs and time involved in identifying and cataloging each cell line.

"The ability for researchers to share data via the caBIG network is exactly what this initiative was designed to enable,” said Robert Clarke, Ph.D., D.Sc., professor of oncology and physiology and biophysics at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Georgetown University Medical Center and Georgetown University Hospital (Washington, DC, USA). "As more scientists throughout the cancer community, in the US and globally, use caBIG and find it easy to share data and collaborate, both basic and clinical research will be improved. We're excited about what this cancer cell data might provide to other researchers and we also hope it will be a catalyst for other organizations to follow the GSK example.”

The NCI launched the caBIG initiative in 2004 to accelerate the research and discovery of new approaches to the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer. Since that time, more than 200 organizations and 1,000 individuals have helped to create more than 40 biomedical research tools such as caArray, the microarray data management system that is guiding the annotation and supporting the exchange of the cancer cell array data provided by GSK.

Interested researchers can download these free data through a link to caArray given below. CaArray, like all the tools in the caBIG suite, is free and open-source.

GlaxoSmithKline is one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare. GSK Oncology is dedicated to producing innovations in cancer that will make profound differences in the lives of patients. GSK's "bench to bedside” approach has resulted in one of the most robust pipelines in the oncology sector. The company's worldwide research in oncology includes collaborations with more than 160 cancer centers.

The National Cancer Institute's cancer biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) is an information network that enables data and knowledge to be shared within and across organizations, scientific domains, and countries to accelerate the discovery of new approaches for the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer.


Related Links:
GlaxoSmithKline
National Cancer Institute
caArray