GENES ≠ FATEevidence atlasRU

NCI GDC / RESEARCH LAYER 0.14

A cohort explains research—not an individual.

We show which tumour and molecular data are available in NCI GDC, how to read aggregate frequency and why it cannot become a personal prognosis or treatment recommendation.

WHAT IT ADDS

Verifiable context

Cohort size, SSM-data coverage, gene observations, file types and access class.

WHAT IT CANNOT ADD

A clinical decision

No variant confirmation, drug indication, treatment comparison, dose or patient prognosis.

SNAPSHOT

DR 46.0

Checked 30 August 2026; GDC Data Release 46.0 dated 10 August 2026.

LOCAL SNAPSHOT · NO PATIENT DATA · NO ANALYTICS

Selections are matched in browser memory against an editorial snapshot of open GDC aggregates. They are not sent to NCI, the URL, cookies, storage, analytics or the controller’s server. There is no field for a variant, diagnosis, case identifier or personal data.

01Research slice
Cohort frequency ≠ patient probability

The snapshot shows aggregate observations in the selected project and open SSM-data scope only. It does not assess an individual specimen, morphology, stage, variant, assay quality or medicine indication.

NCI GDC · RESEARCH LAYER

Open-cohort context

Closing clears the selection. Treatment requires a clinical report, current regulatory indication and molecular tumour board—not cohort frequency.

SIX LAYERS

One gene does not describe the dataset.

Each layer has its own specimen, method, observation unit and limitations.

PROJECTS

Cohorts and projects

A project defines data provenance, design, tumour context and available cases. Different projects cannot be merged mechanically.

SSM

Simple somatic mutations

Open MAF data support counts of SSM observations in genes and variants. A gene record does not establish driver status, assay fitness or a drug target.

CNV / SV

Copy number and structural variation

These are separate data classes and analysis methods. SSM frequency does not describe amplification, deletion, fusion or rearrangement.

RNA / METHYL

Expression and methylation

RNA-seq and methylation answer different research questions. High expression is not an activating variant and does not create a treatment indication.

CLINICAL

Clinical metadata

Completeness, definitions, missingness and treatment era vary. Observed cohort survival is not an individual prognosis.

ACCESS

Open and controlled

Open data require no authorisation; controlled access follows participant consent and separate authorisation. The atlas does not request or bypass controlled access.

INTEGRATION BOUNDARY

Five questions before interpretation.

  1. 01

    Which cases are actually in the denominator and have the required data type?

  2. 02

    Is the unit a gene, exact variant, consequence class, CNV, expression or another entity?

  3. 03

    How were specimens selected and which technologies and pipelines were used?

  4. 04

    Is there clinical confirmation, a regulatory indication and a diagnostically validated assay?

  5. 05

    Are we mistaking a research association or cohort survival for causality and individual prognosis?

PRIMARY SOURCES

The method is inspectable.

Counts were derived from public GDC API endpoints; visitor selections do not call NCI.

API 8.5GDC API · Getting Started↗SEARCHSearch and Retrieval↗ANALYSISData Analysis endpoints↗ACCESSOpen and controlled access↗PORTALMutation Frequency · guide↗