Are you looking for clinical and translational data from NCI-funded studies? If so, start your search at NCI’s Clinical and Translational Data Commons (CTDC).

As the latest resource in NCI’s Cancer Research Data Commons (CRDC), the CTDC will provide access to a vast array of clinical and translational data from NCI-funded clinical trials, correlative studies, and interventional studies. Currently, you can find the Cancer Moonshot^SM Biobank data set, which includes clinical data shared by participants throughout their standard of care treatment at participating U.S. medical institutions. In this data set, you can find data from patients diagnosed with:

• acute myeloid leukemia, 
• colorectal carcinoma,
• non-small cell lung carcinoma,
• small cell lung carcinoma,
• plasma cell myeloma,
• and more!

This is just the first data set. The CTDC plans to release more clinical data sets over the coming months! You can use CTDC’s interactive dashboard to explore available data sets. This dashboard includes summaries of participant demographics, diagnoses, disease stages, targeted therapies, and other information.

 

While there are publicly accessible data available (i.e., not requiring registration or approval to access), CTDC also has registered and controlled-access data. You will know if you must submit a data access request to use the data, by clicking on the “File” tab of the table on the Explore page and looking at the “Access” column. 
 

When you’re ready to analyze the data, you won’t need to download or manage these large data files. Instead, analyze your data on the Seven Bridges Cancer Genomics Cloud (SB-CGC). As one of NCI’s Cloud Resources, the SB-CGC not only provides a secure environment for analysis but also a comprehensive suite of computational tools for analyzing large-scale data sets. Simply check the files you are interested in analyzing, then select “Export to Cancer Genomics Cloud” as the available export option on the shopping cart page, and, finally, follow the instructions within the SB-CGC to start your analysis!

CTDC’s launch marks a meaningful milestone in CRDC’s 10-year journey. While the CRDC has made some clinical data available through its other data commons, the CTDC will accelerate this effort, offering a dedicated resource for the data. Dr. Esmeralda Casas-Silva, CTDC’s federal program director, shared that, “We created CTDC to advance the CRDC’s mission of enhancing data sharing and accessibility by providing a specialized, integrated platform that reduces barriers to accessing and analyzing NIH and NCI-funded clinical study data.” By making this data more findable and accessible, CTDC could help researchers piece together the clinical picture of cancer, paving the way for precision medicine approaches that could better diagnose and treat cancer. “We encourage the cancer research community to actively engage with the CTDC,” Dr. Casas-Silva continued. “Use this platform to discover, connect with, and analyze the wealth of clinical data we will make available. By doing so, you can help drive groundbreaking discoveries that combat cancer and improve treatment outcomes.”