Colorectal Cancer Atlas

Colorectal or bowel cancer originates from either the colon or the rectum. It is the third most common cancer and has the fourth highest mortality rate reported worldwide. The estimated incidence rates of colorectal cancer are highest in Australia/New Zealand and Western Europe.

According to The Cancer Genome Atlas Network, 16% of all CRC have been identified as hypermutated and among these, APC, TP53, KRAS, PIK3CA, FBXW7, SMAD4, TCF7L2 and NRAS were found to be the most frequently mutated genes. Moreover, CTNNB1 (β-catenin), SMAD2, FAM123B and SOX9 genes have also been found often mutated in CRC. Recent large scale sequencing analyses also have highlighted the predominance of large number of CRC patients carrying sequence variants in proteins involved in Wnt signaling pathway.

Identification of sequence variants in genes has advanced our understanding of how cancer develops, progresses and how these sequence variants can be targeted for a cure. Thanks to the ongoing work of several researchers around the world this is made possible. However, the obtained results are isolated across thousands of scientific literature and websites. A resource that can integrate all these heterogeneous data can aid the biomedical research community in the battle against colorectal cancer.

Colorectal Cancer Atlas is a database that catalogs multiple data types pertaining to

1. Quantitative and non-quantitative protein expression data obtained from various techniques including mass spectrometry, Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, immunoelectron microscopy and FACS
2. Mutation data obtained by large and small scale sequencing
3. Pathway data from Reactome, NCI, Cell map and HumanCyc
4. Protein-protein interactions from BioGRID and HPRD
5. Gene Ontology data from Entrez Gene

The compendium encompasses sequence variants and proteins identified in more than 179 colorectal cancer cell lines and 13,711 tissue samples.