Add cell line disease curation guidance to preclinical evidence docs#173
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Expands D-Level Curation Practices in level.rst to clarify that disease selection for in vitro cell line evidence should reflect study context and author intent rather than the literal cancer type of the cell line used. Adds contrasting EID39 (neuroblastoma/Ba/F3) and EID1356 (multi-cancer/Ba/F3) examples. Adds a cross-reference pointer in disease.rst and fixes a broken URL on the CIViC Disease Page link. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
tmooney
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Jun 10, 2026
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| For example, `EID39 <https://civicdb.org/links/evidence/39>`__ describes a study in which ALK mutations were identified in neuroblastoma patient samples and neuroblastoma cell lines. The authors subsequently confirmed sensitivity of these mutations to an ALK inhibitor using Ba/F3 cells — a generic murine pro-B cell model with no inherent connection to neuroblastoma. Despite the use of Ba/F3 cells for the functional experiment, the disease context of the study is neuroblastoma and the authors' conclusions relate to therapeutic implications for neuroblastoma patients. The appropriate disease field for this evidence item is therefore “Neuroblastoma” rather than “cancer” or a hematologic malignancy. | ||
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| In contrast, `EID1356 <https://civicdb.org/links/evidence/1356>`__ describes preclinical work also performed in Ba/F3 cells, but with conclusions that were intended to apply broadly across multiple cancer subtypes. In this case “Cancer” is the appropriate disease selection. When a study lacks a clear disease-specific context, or the authors' conclusions are explicitly intended to apply broadly, it remains appropriate to assign “cancer” or the literal disease of the cell line. |
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The quoted term "Neuroblastoma" is capitalized and "Cancer" is capitalized once in these two sections, but it appears as "cancer" the other two times it appears. Probably all should be made consistent with how they'll appear in the UI.
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This is fair. I believe they are both capitalized in the UI and therefore when quoted should be capitalized.
Fix formatting
minor grammar
malachig
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Jul 10, 2026
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| For example, `EID39 <https://civicdb.org/links/evidence/39>`__ describes a study in which ALK mutations were identified in neuroblastoma patient samples and neuroblastoma cell lines. The authors subsequently confirmed sensitivity of these mutations to an ALK inhibitor using Ba/F3 cells — a generic murine pro-B cell model with no inherent connection to neuroblastoma. Despite the use of Ba/F3 cells for the functional experiment, the disease context of the study is neuroblastoma and the authors' conclusions relate to therapeutic implications for neuroblastoma patients. The appropriate disease field for this evidence item is therefore “Neuroblastoma” rather than “Cancer” or a hematologic malignancy. | ||
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| In contrast, `EID1356 <https://civicdb.org/links/evidence/1356>`__ describes preclinical work also performed in Ba/F3 cells, but with conclusions that were intended to apply broadly across multiple cancer subtypes. In this case “Cancer” is the appropriate disease selection. When a study lacks a clear disease-specific context, or the authors' conclusions are explicitly intended to apply broadly, it remains appropriate to assign “Cancer” or the literal disease of the cell line. |
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If the user can chose "Cancer" OR "the literal disease of the cell line" should we comment on when you might do one versus the other?
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I expanded the explanation a little to cover this
malachig
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Jul 10, 2026
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I made one comment on the last sentence but otherwise this looks great.
Add a litte more clarity on when it is still appropriate to specify Cancer or literal cell line disease
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Expands D-Level Curation Practices in level.rst to clarify that disease selection for in vitro cell line evidence should reflect study context and author intent rather than the literal cancer type of the cell line used. Adds contrasting EID39 (neuroblastoma/Ba/F3) and EID1356 (multi-cancer/Ba/F3) examples. Adds a cross-reference pointer in disease.rst and fixes a broken URL on the CIViC Disease Page link.