# Cancer variant knowledgebases and molecular tumour boards

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

## TL;DR

Curated databases that say what each mutation means for treatment, and the expert meetings that use them to decide on therapy.

## Summary

OncoKB (MSK; FDA-recognised), CIViC (WashU; open, crowd-curated), My Cancer Genome (Vanderbilt), JAX-CKB, COSMIC (Sanger), ClinVar, and cBioPortal supply the evidence layer for precision oncology; molecular tumour boards (institutional, national such as the UK's Genomic MDTs, and virtual services from Roche NAVIFY, Syapse, and Tempus) apply it to patients. Studies show actionable findings in 30-50% of sequenced patients but treatment uptake of only 10-25%, pointing to access and evidence gaps.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Tags: supporting
- Principle: Expert curation of gene-variant-disease-drug evidence into levels (e.g. OncoKB 1-4, R1-R2), exposed by API for lab reporting and decision support.
- Strengths: Open, citable evidence; Regulatory recognition (OncoKB)
- Limitations: Curation lag and disagreement between sources; Sparse evidence for rare variants; Tumour-board capacity

## Sources

- Chakravarty et al., OncoKB: a precision oncology knowledge base (JCO Precision Oncology 2017): https://doi.org/10.1200/PO.17.00011
- Griffith et al., CIViC is a community knowledgebase for expert crowdsourcing the clinical interpretation of variants in cancer (Nature Genetics 2017): https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3774

## Connected records

- collections: [cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics](https://onco.cc/collections/cbioportal/), [CIViC](https://onco.cc/collections/civic/), [OncoKB](https://onco.cc/collections/oncokb/)
- fronts: [AI & Computation](https://onco.cc/fronts/ai-computation/), [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/)
- technologies: [AI trial matching & clinical decision support](https://onco.cc/technologies/ai-trial-matching/), [Clinical NGS bioinformatics and variant interpretation](https://onco.cc/technologies/ngs-bioinformatics-software/), [Comprehensive genomic profiling](https://onco.cc/technologies/cgp/)
- institutions: [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/mskcc/)
- key papers: [CIViC is a community knowledgebase for expert crowdsourcing the clinical interpretation of variants in cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-griffith-nat-genet/), [OncoKB: A Precision Oncology Knowledge Base](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-chakravarty-jco-precis-oncol/)
- roadmaps: [Diagnostics roadmap: stains → gene panels → blood tests that decide treatment](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/diagnostics-roadmap/)
- trials: [I-PREDICT](https://onco.cc/trials/i-predict/), [NCI-MATCH (EAY131)](https://onco.cc/trials/nci-match/), [TAPUR (Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry)](https://onco.cc/trials/tapur/), [TARGET National](https://onco.cc/trials/target-national/), [WINTHER](https://onco.cc/trials/winther/)

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