The Knowledge Connector decision support system for multiomics-based precision oncology
Precision cancer medicine aims to improve patient outcomes by providing individually tailored recommendations for clinical management based on the evaluation of biological disease profiles in multidisciplinary molecular tumor boards (MTBs). The quality of MTB decisions depends on the comprehensive, reliable, and reproducible interpretation of increasingly complex molecular data. We developed and implemented, as part of a multicenter precision oncology program, the Knowledge Connector (KC), a decision support system that integrates individual patients' molecular and clinical data with world knowledge to generate and document MTB recommendations. The KC supports data curation, database integration, and discussion based on multiomics data and provides an interface for creating a cross-institutional knowledge base. Furthermore, it extracts relevant biomarker-drug associations and increases the efficacy of data interpretation in a clinically relevant manner by reducing reliance on external sources and optimizing inter-curator concordance. Our results demonstrate that the KC is a versatile tool that supports medical decision-making in MTBs, thus enabling the scalability of precision cancer medicine.
Authors
- Irina A. Kerle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3650-488X)
- Maria‐Veronica Teleanu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2176-6158)
- Daniel B. Lipka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5081-7869)
- Peter Horak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4536-9306)
- Simon Kreutzfeldt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3278-4586)
- Christoph Heining (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1256-8387)
- Steffen Hausmann
- Jennifer Hüllein
- Sebastian Uhrig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0068-5957)
- Katrin Glocker
- Katja Beck
- Janine Schoop
- Lena Oeser
- Annika Baude-Müller
- Stefan Fröhling
- Frank Ückert
- Benjamin Roth
- Christoph E. Heilig
- Hanno Glimm
- Daniel Hübschmann
- Martina Fröhlich
- Alexander Knurr
- Christian Koch
Institutions
- German Cancer Research Center (DE)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (DE)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE)
- National Center for Tumor Diseases (DE)
- Medical Genetics Center (DE)
- DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance (DE)
- Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine (DE)
- University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-01-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68333-3
- Primary Topic
- Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum
- Nationales Centrum für Tumorerkrankungen Heidelberg
- Deutschen Konsortium für Translationale Krebsforschung