Online database aims to collect, organize research on cancer mutations

"The body of knowledge on cancer genomics is massive and ever-expanding. But this wealth of potentially critical information is far less likely to be of help to patients if it is inaccessible to the doctors who treat them.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an online 'knowledgebase' intended for the gathering and organization of this information so that clinicians have improved chances of identifying important mutations in a patient's tumor and potentially connecting genetic errors with drugs known to target them.

The online resource, called CIViC, is described Jan. 30 in Nature Genetics.

CIViC stands for Clinical Interpretations of Variants in Cancer, and the researchers liken it to a Wikipedia of cancer genetics. Anyone can create an account and contribute information. That information is then curated by editors and moderators who are experts in the field."