About TARGET Data

The goal of the TARGET Initiative is to identify therapeutic targets in childhood cancers so that more effective treatments can be rapidly developed. The first two types of cancer currently under study include acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and neuroblastoma. Together, these two cancers affect more than 3,000 U.S. children each year. ALL and neuroblastoma were selected as the initial focus for the TARGET Initiative for a number of reasons, including:

The efficacy of treatment for these cancers has plateaued over the past 10 years; approximately 20 percent of ALL patients do not respond to therapy,
Ongoing NCI-supported efforts to molecularly characterize these cancers, and
The availability of clinically annotated, high-quality human tissue collections that met TARGET's strict scientific, technical, and ethical requirements.

The TARGET Data Portal enables researchers to search, download, and analyze data. The Data Portal includes data for gene expression characterization, genomic characterization, and gene sequencing.

To learn more about TARGET data types available via the Portal, click here.

To learn more about the TARGET Initiative, click here.