Q (haiku): What percentage of colorectal cancer samples have KRAS mutations in the MSK-CHORD Study? ▶ read_guide { "uri": "cbioportal://mutation-frequency-guide" } ▶ resolve_and_route { "studyKeywords": [ "MSK-CHORD" ] } ◀ result # Mutation Frequency Analysis Guide ## IMPORTANT: Reporting Mutation Frequencies - **ALWAYS report frequencies as percentages**, not raw counts: `frequency = (altered_samples / total_profiled_samples) × 100` - For quick frequency lookups, **prefer the TCGA Pan-Cancer Atlas study first**, then offer to expand to other studies - When reporting across multiple studies, show **ranges** (e.g., "TP53 is mutated in 30–60% of samples") rather than a single average - **NEVER** sum mutation events across studies to compute an aggregate frequency — this can exceed 100% due to double-counting - Warn users that samples may overlap across cohorts (e.g., MSK studies may share patients) - **Choose and state the counting unit**: use patient-level frequencies for prevalence/rate questions unless the user explicitly asks for samples; use sample-level frequencies when the user asks about samples. - **For "across cancer types" questions**, jump to the [Cross-Cancer-Type Mutation Frequency](#cross-cancer-type-mutation-frequency) section below — there is one correct recipe and several common wrong ones. ## Counting Unit: Samples vs Patients Before answering any mutation count or frequency question, decide whether the unit is samples or patients and state that choice in the answer. | User wording | Counting unit | |--------------|---------------| | "prevalence", "rate", "fraction of patients", "patients with", "how common is" | Patient-level: `COUNT(DISTINCT patient_unique_id)` | | "samples", "specimens", "biopsies", sample-level cohort composition | Sample-level: `COUNT(DISTINCT sample_unique_id)` | | Ambiguous | Ask, or default to patient-level for prevalence/rate language and say so | ### Cross-study sample-count caveat When an answer touches more than one study and reports a sample count, prepend a one-line caveat: > Sample IDs are unique within cBioPortal study prefixes, not guaranteed biological-sample identifiers across studies; overlapping cohorts can count the same patient/sample more than once. Prefer one of these safer approaches: - Use a shipped `cancer_study_query_preferences` cohort such as `pan_cancer_tcga` or `all_studies_non_redundant`. - Restrict to one named study. - Aggregate by `patient_unique_id` when the biological question is patient prevalence. ## STOP rule: a frequency above 100% means your query is wrong If your query returns a frequency over 100%, **do not try to debug or explain the data inconsistency to the user**. The cause is always one of these query bugs: - Summing mutation events instead of `COUNT(DISTINCT sample_unique_id)` for the numerator - Using a study-wide sample count as the denominator instead of the gene-specific profiled count - Cross-study aggregation where the same biological sample appears under multiple `sample_unique_id` values (e.g., MSK-IMPACT and MSK-CHORD share patients) - **Joining the profiled CTE through `gene_panel` / `gene_panel_list` without a WES branch.** `gene_panel_id = 'WES'` is *not* a row in … (35166 more chars) ◀ result {"success":true,"message":"Found 1 study. Use the metadata to call the appropriate navigation tool(s).","data":{"totalCount":1,"studiesWithMetadata":[{"studyId":"msk_chord_2024","name":"MSK-CHORD (MSK, Nature 2024)","sampleCount":25040,"studyViewUrl":"https://www.cbioportal.org/study?id=msk_chord_2024","metadata":{"clinicalAttributeIds":["ADRENAL_GLANDS","BONE","CANCER_TYPE","CANCER_TYPE_DETAILED","CLINICAL_GROUP","CLINICAL_SUMMARY","CNS_BRAIN","CURRENT_AGE_DEID","DIAGNOSIS_DESCRIPTION","ETHNICITY","FRACTION_GENOME_ALTERED","GENDER","GENE_PANEL","GLEASON_FIRST_REPORTED","GLEASON_HIGHEST_REPORTED","GLEASON_SAMPLE_LEVEL","HER2","HISTORY_OF_PDL1","HR","ICD_O_HISTOLOGY_DESCRIPTION","INTRA_ABDOMINAL","LIVER","LUNG","LYMPH_NODES","METASTATIC_SITE","MSI_COMMENT","MSI_SCORE","MSI_TYPE","MUTATION_COUNT","NUM_ICDO_DX","ONCOTREE_CODE","OS_MONTHS","OS_STATUS","OTHER","PATHOLOGICAL_GROUP","PDL1_POSITIVE","PLEURA","PRIMARY_SITE","PRIOR_MED_TO_MSK","RACE","REPRODUCTIVE_ORGANS","SAMPLE_CLASS","SAMPLE_COUNT","SAMPLE_COVERAGE","SAMPLE_TYPE","SMOKING_PREDICTIONS_3_CLASSES","SOMATIC_STATUS","STAGE_HIGHEST_RECORDED","TMB_NONSYNONYMOUS","TUMOR_PURITY"],"molecularProfileIds":["msk_chord_2024_cna","msk_chord_2024_mutations","msk_chord_2024_structural_variants"],"availableComparisonTabs":["overlap","clinical","survival","alterations","mutations"]}}]}} ▶ clickhouse_run_select_query { "query": " SELECT * FROM gene_mutation_frequency_in_study( study = 'msk_chord_2024', gene = 'KRAS' ) WHERE cancer_type LIKE '%Colorectal%' OR cancer_type LIKE '%Colon%' ORDER BY frequency_pct DESC " } ◀ result {"rows":[{"cancer_type":"Colorectal Cancer","altered_samples":2355,"profiled_samples":5543,"frequency_pct":42.5}]} ▶ navigate_to_results_view { "studyIds": [ "msk_chord_2024" ], "genes": [ "KRAS" ], "studyViewFilter": { "clinicalDataFilters": [ { "attributeId": "CANCER_TYPE", "values": [ { "value": "Colorectal Cancer" } ] } ] }, "tab": "oncoprint" } ◀ result {"success":true,"message":"Navigating to https://www.cbioportal.org/results/oncoprint?session_id=6ab42840c2115c492d88493c","url":"https://www.cbioportal.org/results/oncoprint?session_id=6ab42840c2115c492d88493c","data":{"studyIds":["msk_chord_2024"],"studies":[{"studyId":"msk_chord_2024","name":"MSK-CHORD (MSK, Nature 2024)","sampleCount":25040}],"genes":["KRAS"],"filteredSampleCount":5543,"caseSetId":"-1","sessionId":"6ab42840c2115c492d88493c","studyViewUrl":"https://www.cbioportal.org/study?id=msk_chord_2024#filterJson=%7B%22clinicalDataFilters%22%3A%5B%7B%22attributeId%22%3A%22CANCER_TYPE%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22value%22%3A%22Colorectal%20Cancer%22%7D%5D%7D%5D%7D","pageDescription":"Visual summary of alterations in queried genes across samples."}} ═ answer (success) ## KRAS Mutation Frequency in MSK-CHORD Colorectal Cancer **42.5%** of colorectal cancer samples in the MSK-CHORD study carry KRAS mutations. **Details:** - **Altered samples:** 2,355 / 5,543 profiled colorectal cancer samples - **Counting unit:** Sample-level frequency --- ### Explore in cBioPortal [View KRAS alterations in MSK-CHORD colorectal cancer (OncoPrint)](https://www.cbioportal.org/results/oncoprint?session_id=6ab42840c2115c492d88493c) This link shows the OncoPrint visualization of KRAS mutations filtered to the 5,543 colorectal cancer samples in MSK-CHORD, with 2,355 (42.5%) carrying KRAS mutations.