Q (haiku):
在TCGA肺腺癌研究中,EGFR突变的频率是多少?
在 Lung Adenocarcinoma (TCGA, PanCancer Atlas) 中,566 个检测样本中有 70 个(12.4%)携带 EGFR 突变。
Continue this conversation: reply to the user's new message.
那 KRAS 呢?
▶ read_guide
{
"uri": "cbioportal://mutation-frequency-guide"
}
◀ 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)
▶ clickhouse_run_select_query
{
"query": "SELECT *
FROM gene_mutation_frequency_in_study(study = 'luad_tcga_pan_can_atlas_2018', gene = 'KRAS')
ORDER BY frequency_pct DESC;"
}
◀ result
{"rows":[{"cancer_type":"Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer","altered_samples":168,"profiled_samples":566,"frequency_pct":29.7}]}
═ answer (success)
在 TCGA 肺腺癌研究(PanCancer Atlas)中,**KRAS 的突变频率为 29.7%**(168/566 个检测样本)。
相比之下:
- **EGFR**:12.4%(70/566)
- **KRAS**:29.7%(168/566)
KRAS 是 TCGA 肺腺癌中最常见的驱动基因之一,突变频率明显高于 EGFR。