Compilation of TCGA molecular subtypes
TCGAbiolinks retrieved molecular subtypes information from TCGA samples. The functions PanCancerAtlas_subtypes and TCGAquery_subtype can be used to get the information tables.
While the PanCancerAtlas_subtypes function gives access to a curated table retrieved from synapse (probably with the most updated molecular subtypes) the TCGAquery_subtype function has the complete table also with sample information retrieved from the TCGA marker papers.
PanCancerAtlas_subtypes: Curated molecular subtypes.
Data and description retrieved from synapse (https://www.synapse.org/#!Synapse:syn8402849)
Synapse has published a single file with all available molecular subtypes that have been described by TCGA (all tumor types and all molecular platforms), which can be accessed using the PanCancerAtlas_subtypes function as below:
subtypes <- PanCancerAtlas_subtypes()
DT::datatable(
data = subtypes,
filter = 'top',
options = list(scrollX = TRUE, keys = TRUE, pageLength = 5),
rownames = FALSE
)The columns “Subtype_Selected” was selected as most prominent subtype classification (from the other columns)
| All available molecular data based-subtype | Selected subtype | Number of samples | Link to file | Reference | link to paper | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | mRNA, DNAmeth, protein, miRNA, CNA, COC, C1A.C1B | DNAmeth | 91 | Link | Cancer Cell 2016 | Link |
| AML | mRNA and miRNA | mRNA | 187 | Link | NEJM 2013 | Link |
| BLCA | mRNA subtypes | mRNA | 129 | Link | Nature 2014 | Link |
| BRCA | PAM50 (mRNA) | PAM50 | 1218 | Link | Nature 2012 | Link |
| GBM/LGG* | mRNA, DNAmeth, protein, Supervised_DNAmeth | Supervised_DNAmeth | 1122 | Link | Cell 2016 | Link |
| Pan-GI (preliminary) ESCA/STAD/COAD/READ | Molecular_Subtype | Molecular_Subtype | 1011 | Link | Cancer Cell 2018 | Link |
| HNSC | mRNA, DNAmeth, RPPA, miRNA, CNA, Paradigm | mRNA | 279 | Link (TabS7.2) | Nature 2015 | Link |
| KICH | Eosinophilic | Eosinophilic | 66 | Link | Cancer Cell 2014 | Link |
| KIRC | mRNA, miRNA | mRNA | 442 | Link | Nature 2013 | Link |
| KIRP | mRNA, DNAmeth, protein, miRNA, CNA, COC | COC | 161 | Link | NEJM 2015 | Link |
| LIHC (preliminary) | mRNA, DNAmeth, protein, miRNA, CNA, Paradigma, iCluster | iCluster | 196 | Link (Table S1A) | not published | |
| LUAD | DNAmeth, iCluster | iCluster | 230 | Link (Table S7) | Nature 2014 | Link |
| LUSC | mRNA | mRNA | 178 | Link (Data file S7.5) | Nature 2012 | Link |
| OVCA | mRNA | mRNA | 489 | Link | Nature 2011 | Link |
| PCPG | mRNA, DNAmeth, protein, miRNA, CNA | mRNA | 178 | tableS2 | Cancer Cell 2017 | Link |
| PRAD | mRNA, DNAmeth, protein, miRNA, CNA, icluster, mutation/fusion | mutation/fusion | 333 | Link | Cell 2015 | Link |
| SKCM | mRNA, DNAmeth, protein, miRNA, mutation | mutation | 331 | Link (Table S1D) | Cell 2015 | Link |
| THCA | mRNA, DNAmeth, protein, miRNA, CNA, histology | mRNA | 496 | Link (Table S2 - Tab1) | Cell 2014 | Link |
| UCEC | iCluster, MSI, CNA, mRNA | iCluster - updated according to Pan-Gyne/Pathways groups | 538 | Link (datafile S1.1) | Nature 2013 | Link |
| Link | ||||||
| UCS (preliminary) | mRNA | mRNA | 57 | Link | not published |
TCGAquery_subtype: Working with molecular subtypes data.
The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network has reported integrated genome-wide studies of various diseases. We have added some of the subtypes defined by these report in our package:
| TCGA dataset | Link | Paper | Journal |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2016.04.002 | Comprehensive Pan-Genomic Characterization of Adrenocortical Carcinoma. | Cancer cell 2016 |
| BRCA | https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(18)30119-3 | A Comprehensive Pan-Cancer Molecular Study of Gynecologic and Breast Cancers | Cancer cell 2018 |
| BLCA | http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)31056-5 | Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Cell 2017 | |
| CHOL | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124717302140?via%3Dihub | Integrative Genomic Analysis of Cholangiocarcinoma Identifies Distinct IDH-Mutant Molecular Profiles | Cell Reports 2017 |
| COAD | http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v487/n7407/abs/nature11252.html | Comprehensive molecular characterization of human colon and rectal cancer | Nature 2012 |
| ESCA | https://www.nature.com/articles/nature20805 | Integrated genomic characterization of oesophageal carcinoma | Nature 2017 |
| GBM | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.028 | Molecular Profiling Reveals Biologically Discrete Subsets and Pathways of Progression in Diffuse Glioma | Cell 2016 |
| HNSC | http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v517/n7536/abs/nature14129.html | Comprehensive genomic characterization of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas | Nature 2015 |
| KICH | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610814003043 | The Somatic Genomic Landscape of Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma | Cancer cell 2014 |
| KIRC | http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v499/n7456/abs/nature12222.html | Comprehensive molecular characterization of clear cell renal cell carcinoma | Nature 2013 |
| KIRP | http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1505917 | Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Papillary Renal-Cell Carcinoma | NEJM 2016 |
| LIHC | http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092-8674(17)30639-6 | Comprehensive and Integrative Genomic Characterization of Hepatocellular Carcinoma | Cell 2017 |
| LGG | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.028 | Molecular Profiling Reveals Biologically Discrete Subsets and Pathways of Progression in Diffuse Glioma | Cell 2016 |
| LUAD | http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v511/n7511/abs/nature13385.html | Comprehensive molecular profiling of lung adenocarcinoma | Nature 2014 |
| LUSC | http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v489/n7417/abs/nature11404.html | Comprehensive genomic characterization of squamous cell lung cancers | Nature 2012 |
| PAAD | http://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(17)30299-4 | Integrated Genomic Characterization of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma | Cancer Cell 2017 |
| PCPG | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2017.01.001 | Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma | Cancer cell 2017 |
| PRAD | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867415013392 | The Molecular Taxonomy of Primary Prostate Cancer | Cell 2015 |
| READ | http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v487/n7407/abs/nature11252.html | Comprehensive molecular characterization of human colon and rectal cancer | Nature 2012 |
| SARC | http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)31203-5 | Comprehensive and Integrated Genomic Characterization of Adult Soft Tissue Sarcomas | Cell 2017 |
| SKCM | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867415006340 | Genomic Classification of Cutaneous Melanoma | Cell 2015 |
| STAD | http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v511/n7511/abs/nature13385.html | Comprehensive molecular characterization of gastric adenocarcinoma | Nature 2013 |
| THCA | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867414012380 | Integrated Genomic Characterization of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma | Cell 2014 |
| UCEC | http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v497/n7447/abs/nature12113.html | Integrated genomic characterization of endometrial carcinoma | Nature 2013 |
| UCS | http://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(17)30053-3 | Integrated Molecular Characterization of Uterine Carcinosarcoma Cancer | Cell 2017 |
| UVM | http://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(17)30295-7 | Integrative Analysis Identifies Four Molecular and Clinical Subsets in Uveal Melanoma | Cancer Cell 2017 |
These subtypes will be automatically added in the summarizedExperiment object through GDCprepare. But you can also use the TCGAquery_subtype function to retrieve this information.
## lgg subtype information from:doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.028A subset of the LGG subytpe is shown below:
Session Information
## R version 4.5.1 Patched (2025-08-23 r88802)
## Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
## Running under: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
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## Matrix products: default
## BLAS: /home/biocbuild/bbs-3.22-bioc/R/lib/libRblas.so
## LAPACK: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lapack/liblapack.so.3.12.0 LAPACK version 3.12.0
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## time zone: America/New_York
## tzcode source: system (glibc)
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## attached base packages:
## [1] grid stats4 stats graphics grDevices utils datasets
## [8] methods base
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## other attached packages:
## [1] maftools_2.26.0 jpeg_0.1-11
## [3] png_0.1-8 DT_0.34.0
## [5] dplyr_1.1.4 SummarizedExperiment_1.40.0
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