Mitelman Database
The Mitelman Database of Chromosome Aberrations and Gene Fusions in Cancer is devoted to genes, chromosomes, and cancer. The Mitelman Database is supported by NCI (National Cancer Institute), the Swedish Cancer Society and the Swedish Childhood Cancer. The Mitelman Database is available from ISB-CGC to access and search the data.
The information in the Mitelman Database relates cytogenetic changes and their genomic consequences, in particular gene fusions, to tumor characteristics, based either on individual cases or associations. All the data have been manually culled from the literature by Felix Mitelman in collaboration with Bertil Johansson and Fredrik Mertens. The database is updated quarterly in January, April, July, and October.
Using the Mitelman Database
It can be accessed from the ISB-CGC homepage (https://isb-cgc.org/) by clicking on Launch in the Chromosomal Aberrations & Gene Fusions DB box or selecting Chromosomal Aberrations & Gene Fusions DB from the Data Browsers drop down menu on the main menu bar. It can also be accessed directly from https://mitelmandatabase.isb-cgc.org.
The user queries the database by parameters such as topography, morphology, gene characteristics, cytogenetic aberrations, and journal references. There are five searchers available:
Cases Cytogenetics Searcher
allows you to query the individual patient cases using fields such as the aberration, breakpoint, morphology, and topography
Gene Fusions Searcher
finds studies pertaining to gene rearrangements, in particular gene fusions, detected either as a consequence of cytogenetic aberrations or identified by sequencing
Clinical Associations Searcher
searches studies pertaining to clinical associations of cytogenetic aberrations and/or gene rearrangements.
Recurrent Chromosome Aberrations Searcher
provides a way to search for structural and numerical abnormalities that are recurrent, i.e., present in two or more cases with the same morphology and topography
References Searcher
queries only the references themselves, i.e., the references from the individual cases and the molecular biology and clinical associations
Until June 2022, the resulting genetic location information retrieved from the database was only displayed in karyotypes. Now, genomic coordinates are also displayed. Thanks to procedures incorporated from the web-based tool CytoConverter, karyotypes are converted to genomic coordinates and can be optionally viewed by the Mitelman Database user.
The user has the option of viewing the genomic coordinate information for either individual karyotypes or for multiple karyotypes in a search result. For individual karyotypes, the corresponding chromosome and its start and end position are given. In addition, the type of imbalance (gain or loss) is noted. For multiple karyotypes in the search results, net imbalances across the selected group are displayed in chart, ideogram or tabular format; information includes the chromosome affected, start and end positions, and whether the segment has been lost or gained.
How to Cite
To cite the use of the Mitelman Database, authors should cite the following source:
Mitelman Database of Chromosome Aberrations and Gene Fusions in Cancer (2022). Mitelman F, Johansson B and Mertens F (Eds.), https://mitelmandatabase.isb-cgc.org
In addition, when using information about chromosomal gains and losses (found on the Karyotype Info and Overall Chromosomal Imbalances pages), please also cite the following:
CytoConverter: a web-based tool to convert karyotypes to genomic coordinates. Wang, J., LaFramboise, T. BMC Bioinformatics 20, 467 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12859-019-3062-4
More Information
For more information, please see the Mitelman Database About page and User Guide.