TumorAGENT — an interdisciplinary tumor database for translational research in breast cancer

The introduction of databases in clinics is increasingly important for the optimization of documentation, quality assurance, improved patient care, reliable results and control of costs. Hence, database systems are not only important for bioinformatic data analysis but are required to develop a successful experimental design. In spite of complex database structures and functions, to date no available database alone satisfies all medical requirements. In the field of oncology special databases are needed to manage tissue banks for oncological research and care. The interdisciplinary tumor database “TumorAGENT” has been developed to manage patient and tumor sample data to enable medical research and in this way provides an important tool for genome and proteome analysis of tumors. TumorAGENT is a web application developed on IEEE-standard and includes all medically relevant data protection measures. The output languages are German and English. TumorAGENT is a database designed for breast carcinomas and is fully operational since July 2005. Expansion to other malignancies as well as interconnection to molecular biological databases is anticipated in database structure and program logic. Future plans are to upgrade TumorAGENT to manage other tumor entities.