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Larsson Omberg and colleagues write a Commentary describing the collaborative model used by the Pan-Cancer Working Group of The Cancer Genome Atlas. Pan-Cancer members used the Synapse software platform to share and evolve data, results and methods to perform integrative analyses of genome-wide molecular data for 12 cancer types.
Current clinical practice is organized according to tissue or organ of origin of tumors. Now, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network has started to identify genomic and other molecular commonalities among a dozen different types of cancer. Emerging similarities and contrasts will form the basis for targeted therapies of the future and for repurposing existing therapies by molecular rather than histological similarities of the diseases.