Q (haiku): What is the most frequent mutation in the TP53 gene in the TCGA breast cancer study? ▶ read_guide { "uri": "cbioportal://mutation-frequency-guide" } ▶ resolve_and_route { "studyKeywords": [ "TCGA", "breast" ] } ◀ 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 … (36467 more chars) ◀ result {"success":false,"error":"Internal Server Error","details":{"status":500,"response":{"req":{"method":"POST","url":"https://www.cbioportal.org/api/clinical-attributes/fetch?projection=SUMMARY","data":["brca_tcga_gdc"],"headers":{"user-agent":"node-superagent/3.8.3","accept":"application/json","content-type":"application/json"}},"header":{"cache-control":"no-cache, no-store, max-age=0, must-revalidate","content-encoding":"gzip","content-type":"application/json","date":"Sat, 26 Sep 2026 16:44:16 GMT","elapsed-time":"0","expires":"0","pragma":"no-cache","strict-transport-security":"max-age=31536000 ; includeSubDomains","vary":"origin,access-control-request-method,access-control-request-headers,accept-encoding","x-content-type-options":"nosniff","x-frame-options":"DENY","x-xss-protection":"0","connection":"close","transfer-encoding":"chunked"},"status":500,"text":"{\"timestamp\":1790441056885,\"status\":500,\"error\":\"Internal Server Error\",\"path\":\"/api/clinical-attributes/fetch\"}"}}} ▶ resolve_and_route { "studyIds": [ "brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018" ] } ◀ result {"success":true,"message":"Found 1 study. Use the metadata to call the appropriate navigation tool(s).","data":{"totalCount":1,"studiesWithMetadata":[{"studyId":"brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018","name":"Breast Invasive Carcinoma (TCGA, PanCancer Atlas)","sampleCount":1084,"studyViewUrl":"https://www.cbioportal.org/study?id=brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018","metadata":{"clinicalAttributeIds":["AGE","AJCC_PATHOLOGIC_TUMOR_STAGE","AJCC_STAGING_EDITION","ANEUPLOIDY_SCORE","BUFFA_HYPOXIA_SCORE","CANCER_TYPE","CANCER_TYPE_ACRONYM","CANCER_TYPE_DETAILED","DAYS_LAST_FOLLOWUP","DAYS_TO_BIRTH","DAYS_TO_INITIAL_PATHOLOGIC_DIAGNOSIS","DFS_MONTHS","DFS_STATUS","DSS_MONTHS","DSS_STATUS","ETHNICITY","FORM_COMPLETION_DATE","FRACTION_GENOME_ALTERED","GENETIC_ANCESTRY_LABEL","GRADE","HISTORY_NEOADJUVANT_TRTYN","ICD_10","ICD_O_3_HISTOLOGY","ICD_O_3_SITE","INFORMED_CONSENT_VERIFIED","IN_PANCANPATHWAYS_FREEZE","MSI_SCORE_MANTIS","MSI_SENSOR_SCORE","MUTATION_COUNT","NEW_TUMOR_EVENT_AFTER_INITIAL_TREATMENT","ONCOTREE_CODE","OS_MONTHS","OS_STATUS","OTHER_PATIENT_ID","PATH_M_STAGE","PATH_N_STAGE","PATH_T_STAGE","PERSON_NEOPLASM_CANCER_STATUS","PFS_MONTHS","PFS_STATUS","PRIMARY_LYMPH_NODE_PRESENTATION_ASSESSMENT","PRIOR_DX","RACE","RADIATION_THERAPY","RAGNUM_HYPOXIA_SCORE","SAMPLE_COUNT","SAMPLE_TYPE","SEX","SOMATIC_STATUS","SUBTYPE","TBL_SCORE","TISSUE_PROSPECTIVE_COLLECTION_INDICATOR","TISSUE_RETROSPECTIVE_COLLECTION_INDICATOR","TISSUE_SOURCE_SITE","TISSUE_SOURCE_SITE_CODE","TMB_NONSYNONYMOUS","TUMOR_TISSUE_SITE","TUMOR_TYPE","WEIGHT","WINTER_HYPOXIA_SCORE"],"molecularProfileIds":["brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_gistic","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_log2CNA","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_mutations","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_protein_quantification","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_protein_quantification_zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rna_seq_v2_mrna","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rna_seq_v2_mrna_median_Zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rna_seq_v2_mrna_median_all_sample_Zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rna_seq_v2_mrna_median_all_sample_ref_normal_Zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rppa","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rppa_Zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_structural_variants"],"genericAssayProfiles":["brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_armlevel_cna","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_genetic_ancestry","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_methylation_hm27_hm450_merge","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_methylation_hm450","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_phosphoprotein_quantification"],"heatmapProfileIds":["brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_protein_quantification_zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rna_seq_v2_mrna_median_Zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rna_seq_v2_mrna_median_all_sample_Zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rna_seq_v2_mrna_median_all_sample_ref_normal_Zscores","brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_rppa_Zscores"],"availableComparisonTabs":["overlap","clinical","survival","alterations","mutations","mrna","protein","generic_assay_armlevel_cna","generic_assay_genetic_anc … (83 more chars) ▶ clickhouse_run_select_query { "query": " SELECT * FROM gene_mutation_variants_in_study(study = 'brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018', gene = 'TP53') ORDER BY altered_samples DESC LIMIT 10 ", "max_rows": 20 } ◀ result {"rows":[{"mutation_variant":"R175H","mutation_type":"Missense_Mutation","altered_samples":21,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":2,"total_mutation_events":21},{"mutation_variant":"R273H","mutation_type":"Missense_Mutation","altered_samples":13,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":1.2,"total_mutation_events":13},{"mutation_variant":"R196*","mutation_type":"Nonsense_Mutation","altered_samples":8,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":0.8,"total_mutation_events":8},{"mutation_variant":"Y220C","mutation_type":"Missense_Mutation","altered_samples":7,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":0.7,"total_mutation_events":7},{"mutation_variant":"R342*","mutation_type":"Nonsense_Mutation","altered_samples":7,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":0.7,"total_mutation_events":7},{"mutation_variant":"R213*","mutation_type":"Nonsense_Mutation","altered_samples":7,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":0.7,"total_mutation_events":7},{"mutation_variant":"H193R","mutation_type":"Missense_Mutation","altered_samples":6,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":0.6,"total_mutation_events":6},{"mutation_variant":"H179R","mutation_type":"Missense_Mutation","altered_samples":6,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":0.6,"total_mutation_events":6},{"mutation_variant":"I195T","mutation_type":"Missense_Mutation","altered_samples":5,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":0.5,"total_mutation_events":5},{"mutation_variant":"R248W","mutation_type":"Missense_Mutation","altered_samples":5,"profiled_samples":1066,"frequency_pct":0.5,"total_mutation_events":5}]} ▶ navigate_to_results_view { "studyIds": [ "brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018" ], "genes": [ "TP53" ], "tab": "mutations" } ◀ result {"success":true,"message":"Navigating to https://www.cbioportal.org/results/mutations?cancer_study_list=brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018&gene_list=TP53&case_set_id=brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_all","url":"https://www.cbioportal.org/results/mutations?cancer_study_list=brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018&gene_list=TP53&case_set_id=brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_all","data":{"studyIds":["brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018"],"studies":[{"studyId":"brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018","name":"Breast Invasive Carcinoma (TCGA, PanCancer Atlas)","sampleCount":1084}],"genes":["TP53"],"caseSetId":"brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_all","pageDescription":"Detailed mutation table with lollipop plot showing mutation positions, types, and frequencies for queried genes."}} ═ answer (success) ## Most Frequent TP53 Mutation in TCGA Breast Cancer The most frequent TP53 mutation in the **Breast Invasive Carcinoma (TCGA, PanCancer Atlas)** study is **R175H**, a missense mutation found in **21 samples out of 1,066 profiled** (2.0% frequency). ### Top 10 TP53 Variants: | Mutation | Type | Samples | Frequency | |----------|------|---------|-----------| | **R175H** | Missense | 21 / 1,066 | **2.0%** | | R273H | Missense | 13 / 1,066 | 1.2% | | R196* | Nonsense | 8 / 1,066 | 0.8% | | Y220C | Missense | 7 / 1,066 | 0.7% | | R342* | Nonsense | 7 / 1,066 | 0.7% | | R213* | Nonsense | 7 / 1,066 | 0.7% | | H193R | Missense | 6 / 1,066 | 0.6% | | H179R | Missense | 6 / 1,066 | 0.6% | | I195T | Missense | 5 / 1,066 | 0.5% | | R248W | Missense | 5 / 1,066 | 0.5% | **R175H** is a well-known hotspot mutation in TP53 that disrupts DNA binding. The mutations show a mix of missense variants (which may preserve some function) and nonsense/truncating mutations. [View TP53 mutations in detail](https://www.cbioportal.org/results/mutations?cancer_study_list=brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018&gene_list=TP53&case_set_id=brca_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018_all) — includes a lollipop plot showing the position and frequency of all variants.