# TCGA / NCI Genomic Data Commons

Source: https://onco.cc/collections/tcga-gdc/  
OnCo record `tcga-gdc` (Collection). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The reference atlas of cancer genomes that most cancer biology since 2008 is built on.

## Summary

The NCI Genomic Data Commons hosts The Cancer Genome Atlas, multi-omic data on more than 11,000 tumours across 33 cancer types, together with TARGET, CPTAC and other programmes. Mutations, copy number, RNA, methylation, protein and clinical data are harmonised into one portal, which is why it has become the training set for most cancer machine learning and the reference atlas that most cancer biology since 2008 is built on. The NCI maintains it; processed data are open and raw sequence is under controlled access. On OnCo it is tied to Whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing and DNA methylation profiling, and it is cited by the bottleneck Data silos, the paper TCGA Pan-Cancer Atlas, the Virtual cell roadmap and the Drug discovery roadmap.

## Fields

- Kind: Collection
- Last checked: 2026-09-04
- Also known as: TCGA; The Cancer Genome Atlas; GDC; Genomic Data Commons; GDC Data Portal; TCGA PanCanAtlas; Pan-Cancer Atlas
- URL: https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov
- Holds: Multi-omic data on >11,000 tumours across 33 cancer types (TCGA) plus TARGET, CPTAC, and others.
- Licence: Open (controlled access for raw sequence)

## Sources

- TCGA / NCI Genomic Data Commons: https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov

## Connected records

- technologies: [DNA methylation profiling](https://onco.cc/technologies/methylation-profiling/), [Whole-exome & whole-genome sequencing](https://onco.cc/technologies/wes-wgs/)
- institutions: [National Cancer Institute (NIH)](https://onco.cc/institutions/nci/)
- bottlenecks: [Data silos](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-data-silos/)
- ideas: [A global rapid tissue donation network for metastatic disease](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-rapid-autopsy-commons/), [Digitise the nation's pathology slides and link them to outcomes](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-national-slide-archive/), [Link single-cell and spatial tumour atlases to clinical outcomes](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-atlas-to-outcome-linkage/)
- key papers: [Li 2017: TIMER, a web server for estimating immune cells in tumour genomic data](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-li-timer-tumour-infiltrating-immune-cells-cancerres-2017/), [Li 2020: TIMER2.0 for analysis of tumour-infiltrating immune cells](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-li-timer2-nar-2020/), [TCGA Pan-Cancer Atlas: 10,000 tumours across 33 cancer types, classified by molecular features](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-tcga-pancancer-atlas-cell-2018/)
- roadmaps: [Drug discovery roadmap: screening in mice → maps of dependency → designing in silico](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/drug-discovery-roadmap/), [Virtual cell roadmap: from bulk omics to a predictive model of a cancer cell](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/virtual-cell/)
- terms: [Cancer AI vocabulary (CanSim terms map)](https://onco.cc/terms/cancer-ai-vocabulary/), [Controlled-access genomic data (dbGaP, EGA)](https://onco.cc/terms/controlled-access-data/), [Reverse-phase protein array (RPPA)](https://onco.cc/terms/rppa/), [TCGA barcode](https://onco.cc/terms/tcga-barcode/), [TCGA open versus controlled data tiers](https://onco.cc/terms/tcga-tiers/)

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