Online resources of cancer data: barriers, benefits and lessons

With advances in high-throughput techniques, the volume of data generated has resulted in the creation of a plethora of resources for the cancer research community. However, a key factor in the utility, sustainability and future use of a novel resource lies in its ability to allow for data sharing and to be interoperable with major international cancer research efforts. This article will introduce some of these efforts, the interoperable cancer data-mining resources and repositories, from a user-perspective. Some of the considerations to be addressed when building interoperable, sustainable cancer resources will be discussed with case studies-hoping this will prove useful for researchers designing their own cancer databases.