Discover what the recent editorial review in the Journal of Clinical Oncology says about the accomplishments and goals of the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI).

In the review, “The CCDI Comes Out of the Starting Block,” Kevin Shannon, M.D., examines the article, “The Childhood Cancer Data Initiative: Using the Power of Data to Learn from and Improve Outcomes for Every Child and Young Adult with Pediatric Cancer.”

Dr. Shannon expands on what he feels are key accomplishments from CCDI based on the original article, including:

• the implementation of the Molecular Characterization Initiative (MCI).
• the collection of data that comprises young adults (up to age 39) with cancers typically seen in pediatric and adolescent patients.

The editorial review also notes future opportunities and goals for CCDI, including:

• expanding the MCI to offer sequencing of relapsed cancers, which will improve our understanding of drug resistance and may identify clinically actionable mutations in some patients.
• supporting research that further investigates adverse long-term health outcomes in adolescents and young adults.
• the creation of an easy-to-use portal to make aggregated data from large sequencing projects available to investigators.

CCDI’s goal is to improve treatments for cancers in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients. CCDI supports research into new therapies aimed at improving outcomes and reducing negative, long-term health issues. If you want to learn more about CCDI, visit their webpage.