CORE COSMIC
Core cancer genomics dataset, updated twice yearly. The foundation for the other modules.
32M variants · Sanger Institute · commercial licence from QIAGEN
COSMIC — the most comprehensive source of somatic mutations in cancer
COSMIC (Catalogue Of Somatic Mutations In Cancer) is a reference database of somatic mutations in cancer, developed at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. It contains over 32 million genomic variants across more than 6,800 cancer types. The data come from the TCGA and ICGC projects and from peer-reviewed literature, and are managed in line with the FAIR principles. Academic use is free of charge. Since 2021, commercial licences for pharmaceutical development, industrial research and commercial diagnostics have been provided by QIAGEN.
- 32M+ Genomic variants
- 6,800+ Cancer types
- 20+ years Developed at the Wellcome Sanger Institute
- FAIR Data from TCGA, ICGC and the scientific literature
What is COSMIC
Reference database of somatic mutations in cancer
COSMIC has been developed at the Wellcome Sanger Institute for more than 20 years and is one of the most extensive publicly available databases of somatic mutations in cancer. It helps identify clinically relevant variants, assess their biological and clinical context, determine their genomic position, evaluate their frequency and use them in the analysis of tumour data. Each record is supplemented with expert-curated metadata, such as patient information, histology and pathology. Where data are unclear or incorrectly entered, the authors are contacted to verify them, so individual records remain traceable back to the original source.
Over the last five quarterly updates, approximately 3.4 million mutations, 93,000 samples and 1,700 articles have been added, increasing the number of known cancer genomic mutations in the database by almost 17%. The data cover over 1,150,000 solid tumour samples, 444,000 blood and lymphoid samples and about 6,000 ctDNA samples. By variant type, COSMIC includes approximately 23 million SNVs, 2 million insertions and deletions, 4.3 million structural variants and copy number changes, and more than 20,000 gene fusions. Since 2021, QIAGEN has held the exclusive right to license and distribute COSMIC for commercial use, while academic and non-profit access remains available via cosmicKB.org.
COSMIC in numbers
The scale of the somatic mutation database
- 32M+ Genomic variants
- 1.6M+ Total samples
- 6,800+ Cancer types
- 20+ years Developed at the Wellcome Sanger Institute
COSMIC modules
Six specialised modules
COSMIC consists of six modules covering different areas of cancer research, from basic gene annotation to the clinical actionability of variants and mutational signatures.
Gene Census
A systematic overview of cancer-associated genes, classified according to the strength of the available evidence.
Mutation Census
An overview of coding mutations by frequency and pathogenicity, focusing on the most significant variants.
Signatures
Genome-wide mutational signatures for studying the causes of mutations, mutagenic processes and environmental exposures.
COSMIC 3D
3D visualisation of the impact of cancer mutations on protein structure.
Resistance and Actionability
Expert-curated information on therapy resistance, clinical trials and available clinical evidence.
Access options
Two ways to use COSMIC
COSMIC Online
Fast browser-based access
- Immediate access to expert-curated content without managing your own infrastructure
- Fast, browser-based access to the latest COSMIC content
- Flexible licensing aligned to team size and type of use
- Simple administration with no need for local downloads or updates
- Suitable for research, translational and clinical laboratories
COSMIC Download
Data integration into your own bioinformatics pipelines
- Local access to COSMIC data for your own analyses
- Integration into in-house tools and bioinformatics workflows
- Support for high-performance computing tasks and analyses of large datasets
- Suitable for large-scale integration into internal platforms
- Sample data available to try
Key features
What COSMIC offers
Over 32 million variants
An extensive database of somatic variants, including approximately 23 million SNVs, 2 million insertions and deletions, 4.3 million structural variants and copy number changes, and more than 20,000 gene fusions. Covers both coding and non-coding regions.
Over 1.6 million samples
Over 1.15 million solid tumour samples, 444,000 blood and lymphoid samples and about 6,000 ctDNA samples. The data cover the major tumour types, different stages and geographically diverse populations.
FAIR-compliant data
The data are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. They come from the TCGA and ICGC projects and from peer-reviewed literature, and are supplemented with patient, histology and pathology information.
Traceable to source
Every record can be traced back to its original source. Where data are unclear or incorrectly reported, the expert team contacts the authors of the publication and verifies the information.
Sanger Institute curation
The data have been expert-curated by the Wellcome Sanger Institute team for more than 20 years. They are based on peer-reviewed sources and supplemented with standardised annotations.
Free for academic use
Academic use is free of charge via cosmicKB.org. Since 2021, commercial licences have been provided exclusively by QIAGEN.
Applications
Who needs a commercial COSMIC licence
Pharmaceutical and biotech research
Identification of therapeutic targets and biomarkers, and analysis of the competitive landscape. COSMIC is an important data source for the development of new cancer drugs.
Commercial diagnostic laboratories
Interpretation of somatic variants, with COSMIC as a reference resource for assessing their clinical significance. COSMIC identifiers are commonly used in final reports.
Contract research and analytical services
Organisations providing bioinformatics or analytical services to clients need an appropriate licence for commercial use of the data.
Software developers
Integration of COSMIC data into commercial bioinformatics tools and analytics platforms.
Companion diagnostics development
Biomarker prevalence and mutation frequency data serve as a reference for the design and validation of companion diagnostic tests.
Precision medicine companies
Genomic tumour profiling services, therapy matching platforms and other precision oncology solutions use COSMIC as part of their database infrastructure.
Let's get started
Need a commercial COSMIC licence?
We will arrange a quote based on what you will use the data for, the size of your organisation and the scale of deployment. Annual subscription with regular updates.