# Cancer cell line encyclopedias and dependency maps

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/cancer-cell-line-encyclopedias/  
OnCo record `cancer-cell-line-encyclopedias` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Large public collections of cancer cell lines profiled for their genomes, drug sensitivity and gene dependencies, the reference data behind much of modern target discovery.

## Summary

The Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia and the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer project characterised about a thousand cell lines by sequencing, expression and drug response, and the Dependency Map (DepMap) added genome-wide CRISPR knockout screens that reveal which genes each line needs to survive. These resources identified synthetic lethal targets such as WRN in microsatellite-unstable cancers and PRMT5 in MTAP-deleted tumours, and they anchor machine-learning models of drug response.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-04
- Principle: Cell lines are profiled by sequencing and expression, treated with drug libraries, and screened with pooled CRISPR guides; dependencies emerge where knockout selectively kills lines with a given genotype.
- Strengths: Open data used across academia and industry; Systematic discovery of synthetic lethality; Ground truth for predictive models
- Limitations: Cell lines lack stroma and immune context; Culture-adapted lines differ from tumours; Limited representation of some cancers and ancestries

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_Cell_Line_Encyclopedia
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_Cell_Line_Encyclopedia

## Connected records

- fronts: [AI & Computation](https://onco.cc/fronts/ai-computation/), [Drug Discovery Platforms](https://onco.cc/fronts/drug-discovery/)
- technologies: [Patient-derived organoids](https://onco.cc/technologies/organoids/), [Synthetic lethality approaches](https://onco.cc/technologies/synthetic-lethality-approaches/)
- targets: [PRMT5 (MTAP-deleted cancers)](https://onco.cc/targets/prmt5-mtap/), [WRN helicase (MSI-high cancers)](https://onco.cc/targets/wrn/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/cancer-cell-line-encyclopedias.json