A Missing Link - Molecular-Cytogenetic Data for Oncogenetic Data Mining

Ever since the description of the t(9;22) as the cytogenetic hallmark in the majority of Chronic Myolegeneous Leukemias (CML), the analysis of chromosomal aberrations has been an important and rewarding tool in oncogenetic research as well as in clinical oncology. Although the Human Genome Project and related efforts have led to the deciphering of the genomic sequence, and although the growing field of expression array analysis relies on genome based information management, no systematic effort has been undertaken to integrate the published information about cytogenetic aberrations into oncogenetic data-mining efforts. Here, I will detail objectives, methods and current status of the progenetix.net online CGH data collection, and discuss present and future applications of the dataset.