A user guide for the online exploration and visualization of PCAWG data

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Cancer Biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• The Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) project has generated extensive whole-genome sequencing data for thousands of cancer samples.
• Understanding this vast dataset requires sophisticated tools for exploration and visualization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a user's guide to five publicly available online tools for exploring PCAWG data.
• To demonstrate how these tools facilitate the analysis and interpretation of complex genomic cancer data.

Main Methods:

• The study introduces and describes five data exploration and visualization tools: ICGC Data Portal, UCSC Xena, Chromothripsis Explorer, Expression Atlas, and PCAWG-Scout.
• Use cases and analyses are detailed for each tool, highlighting their integration with external genomic resources.

Main Results:

• The described tools enable dynamic querying of the comprehensive PCAWG genomic dataset.
• These tools facilitate the integration of external information, enhancing the biological interpretation of cancer genomics.

Conclusions:

• The five presented tools collectively empower researchers to conduct in-depth analyses of pan-cancer whole-genome data.
• Integrated use of these tools enhances the understanding of cancer biology by enabling dynamic data exploration and external information linkage.