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| TCGA: How It Works
- Eligible cancer patients are asked to donate a small portion of tumor tissue that has been removed as part of their cancer treatment. This tissue is used for research study. Tissue collection does not affect a patient's medical care in any way.
- Scientists use several methods to analyze the genetic material obtained from the tissue. The genetic information is made publicly available for scientists to conduct research. Identifying information, such as patient name or date of birth, is excluded from the public TCGA Data Portal to protect patient privacy.
- Because cancer is not a single disease, but a collection of diseases that arise from different combinations of genetic changes, scientists must analyze the genetic material from many different tumors and patients to uncover the tell-tale genetic signatures of different cancer types.
- Human Cancer Biospecimen Core Resource: Tissue samples are carefully catalogued, processed, quality controlled, and stored, complete with important medical information about the patient. Before the genetic material is sent for analysis, samples are coded to remove any descriptors that might connect a sample with the patient's private information.
Genome Sequencing Centers: Building on the technologies that were used to complete the Human Genome Project, high-throughput genome sequencing centers identify the changes in DNA sequence associated with specific types of cancer. As second generation sequencing technologies are made available, these technologies may be used to increase the scope of DNA sequencing efforts on TCGA samples.
Cancer Genome Characterization Centers: Several genome characterization technologies are used to analyze the genetic changes involved in cancer onset and progression. The genetic changes that scientists believe are the most significant are further studied by the genome sequencing centers.
Data Management, Bioinformatics, and Computational Analysis: Information generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) network is centrally managed and entered into public databases as it becomes available, allowing scientists to access the information throughout the course of the Pilot Project. As new analytical tools are developed, they will be made available to the research community.
Technology Development: TCGA enables technology development efforts to address technological hurdles of characterizing such a heterogeneous disease. With some high-throughput, cost-effective technologies for cancer genome analyses in place, further improvements are needed and new innovative approaches are required to address issues of small tumor size, cellular heterogeneity, and normal cell contamination.
Development of Analyses and Visualization Tools: TCGA supports and drives innovations in analysis methods and visualization technologies for large-scale, high-throughput cancer genome analysis.
- Scientists search, download, and analyze data sets generated by the TCGA Network through the TCGA Data Portal, a comprehensive Web-based portal containing of all TCGA data. Essentially, the Data Portal contains the genetic “fingerprints” of specific cancer types.
- Researchers translate the data available from the TCGA Data Portal into clinical advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
- The ultimate goal of TCGA is to provide the medical community with new ways to better care for its patients and significantly reduce the suffering and death due to cancer.
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