OpenPedCan expands access to pediatric cancer data for researchers worldwide
The OpenPedCan Project harmonizes genomic and clinical data from over 6,000 pediatric tumors across 100 cancer types, creating an open-access resource to advance collaboration and accelerate childhood cancer research.
Modern cancer breakthroughs depend on collaboration and open data. The Open Pediatric Cancer (OpenPedCan) Project, published last month in GigaScience, is opening new doors for discovery by harmonizing genomic and molecular data from more than 6,000 tumors across 100 types of cancer.
Led by teams at Children’s National Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, OpenPedCan creates one of the largest harmonized open-source pediatric cancer datasets ever assembled.
Why it matters
Pediatric cancers are rare and complex, which makes collaboration essential. No single institution can collect enough samples to reveal the full picture of how these diseases develop or respond to treatment.
OpenPedCan changes that. The project combines whole-genome or exome sequencing, RNA sequencing, methylation profiling, proteomics and clinical data from multiple international cohorts into a unified, open platform. Researchers can now explore harmonized data covering nearly 48,000 total biospecimens — including tumor and normal tissues — to identify patterns, compare findings and accelerate the search for new treatments.
What’s new
OpenPedCan builds on the success of The Open Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas (OpenPBTA), which characterized more than 1,000 pediatric brain tumors. This new release expands beyond brain cancers to include a broad range of childhood solid tumors and leukemias.
It also introduces molecular subtyping that aligns with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2021 classification of central nervous system tumors, along with new layers of data such as proteomics, phospho-proteomics and microRNA sequencing. Together, these additions give scientists a deeper, multiomic view of pediatric cancers than ever before.
The big picture
“OpenPedCan puts the power of harmonized data into the hands of every lab,” said Jo Lynne Rokita, PhD, of Children’s National, senior author of the study.
“OpenPedCan puts the power of harmonized data into the hands of every lab,” said Jo Lynne Rokita, PhD, of Children’s National, senior author of the study. “By aligning previously un-subtyped tumors with WHO 2021 classifications and integrating new layers like proteomics and methylation, we are helping researchers worldwide find answers faster and bring new hope to children and families.”
Making these datasets and tools openly available to anyone reduces barriers to entry and encourages collaboration across institutions and disciplines. The data has already been used to update initial diagnoses, identify potential therapeutic targets and strengthen clinical trial design.
OpenPedCan helps redefine what collaboration looks like in pediatric cancer research. By connecting genomic data, analytical tools and global expertise, the project gives scientists a faster path to discovery — and gives children with cancer more reasons for hope.
You can read the full journal article “The Open Pediatric Cancer Project” in GigaScience here. This project was funded in part with federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), under Contract No. 75N91019D00024, Task Order No. 75N91020F00003 and the U24OD038422 from the Office of the Director at NIH.
