Data
Human

Cancer Gene Census

The Cancer Gene Census is a high-confidence list of genes with substantial published evidence in oncology.

Regularly updated by the COSMIC curation team, who are continuously immersed in the literature, the Cancer Gene Census describes hundreds of genes with a variety of mutation mechanisms across all human cancer types.

Acceptance criteria are literature-based, requiring indisputable clear mutation patterns in specified cancer diseases from at least two independent studies from different groups. Statistical interpretations of broad genomic data are not included, making the Census a conservative but very high-confidence list. This list is used to drive expert curation in the COSMIC project, and Census genes are highlighted in the COSMIC website with a small icon.

Data use

This sequencing centre plans on publishing the completed and annotated sequences in a peer-reviewed journal as soon as possible. Permission of the principal investigator should be obtained before publishing analyses of the sequence/open reading frames/genes on a chromosome or genome scale. See our data sharing policy.