Correlation between gene mutation status and selected clinical features
Thyroid Adenocarcinoma (Primary solid tumor)
15 January 2014  |  analyses__2014_01_15
Maintainer Information
Citation Information
Maintained by TCGA GDAC Team (Broad Institute/MD Anderson Cancer Center/Harvard Medical School)
Cite as Broad Institute TCGA Genome Data Analysis Center (2014): Correlation between gene mutation status and selected clinical features. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. doi:10.7908/C1R20ZTX
Overview
Introduction

This pipeline computes the correlation between significantly recurrent gene mutations and selected clinical features.

Summary

Testing the association between mutation status of 6 genes and 15 clinical features across 392 patients, 8 significant findings detected with Q value < 0.25.

  • NRAS mutation correlated to 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE',  'HISTOLOGICAL.TYPE', and 'NUMBER.OF.LYMPH.NODES'.

  • BRAF mutation correlated to 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE',  'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE',  'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE',  'HISTOLOGICAL.TYPE', and 'EXTRATHYROIDAL.EXTENSION'.

Results
Overview of the results

Table 1.  Get Full Table Overview of the association between mutation status of 6 genes and 15 clinical features. Shown in the table are P values (Q values). Thresholded by Q value < 0.25, 8 significant findings detected.

Clinical
Features
Time
to
Death
AGE NEOPLASM
DISEASESTAGE
PATHOLOGY
T
STAGE
PATHOLOGY
N
STAGE
PATHOLOGY
M
STAGE
GENDER HISTOLOGICAL
TYPE
RADIATIONS
RADIATION
REGIMENINDICATION
RADIATIONEXPOSURE EXTRATHYROIDAL
EXTENSION
COMPLETENESS
OF
RESECTION
NUMBER
OF
LYMPH
NODES
MULTIFOCALITY TUMOR
SIZE
nMutated (%) nWild-Type logrank test t-test Chi-square test Fisher's exact test Fisher's exact test Fisher's exact test Fisher's exact test Fisher's exact test Fisher's exact test Fisher's exact test Fisher's exact test Fisher's exact test t-test Fisher's exact test t-test
BRAF 236 (60%) 156 0.91
(1.00)
0.661
(1.00)
0.00202
(0.166)
0.000607
(0.0504)
0.00043
(0.0362)
0.0835
(1.00)
0.408
(1.00)
1.94e-19
(1.73e-17)
0.0323
(1.00)
0.592
(1.00)
3.75e-07
(3.3e-05)
0.365
(1.00)
0.567
(1.00)
0.753
(1.00)
0.349
(1.00)
NRAS 34 (9%) 358 0.469
(1.00)
0.448
(1.00)
0.0493
(1.00)
0.149
(1.00)
0.000138
(0.0117)
0.492
(1.00)
0.84
(1.00)
4.97e-05
(0.00432)
0.611
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
0.192
(1.00)
0.654
(1.00)
5.23e-05
(0.0045)
0.369
(1.00)
0.651
(1.00)
HRAS 13 (3%) 379 0.507
(1.00)
0.595
(1.00)
0.464
(1.00)
0.439
(1.00)
0.549
(1.00)
0.286
(1.00)
0.746
(1.00)
0.0128
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
0.691
(1.00)
0.171
(1.00)
0.507
(1.00)
0.779
(1.00)
0.954
(1.00)
EIF1AX 6 (2%) 386 0.0961
(1.00)
0.137
(1.00)
0.967
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
0.625
(1.00)
0.473
(1.00)
0.176
(1.00)
0.0737
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
0.275
(1.00)
0.769
(1.00)
0.668
(1.00)
0.69
(1.00)
NUP93 4 (1%) 388 0.909
(1.00)
0.408
(1.00)
0.781
(1.00)
0.736
(1.00)
0.348
(1.00)
0.659
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
0.0148
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
0.512
(1.00)
0.61
(1.00)
0.343
(1.00)
0.985
(1.00)
NLRP6 3 (1%) 389 0.644
(1.00)
0.0328
(1.00)
0.812
(1.00)
0.17
(1.00)
0.605
(1.00)
0.134
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
0.66
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
1
(1.00)
0.525
(1.00)
0.601
(1.00)
'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'

P value = 0.000138 (Fisher's exact test), Q value = 0.012

Table S1.  Gene #1: 'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #5: 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'

nPatients 0 1
ALL 185 166
NRAS MUTATED 27 5
NRAS WILD-TYPE 158 161

Figure S1.  Get High-res Image Gene #1: 'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #5: 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'

'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus 'HISTOLOGICAL.TYPE'

P value = 4.97e-05 (Fisher's exact test), Q value = 0.0043

Table S2.  Gene #1: 'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #8: 'HISTOLOGICAL.TYPE'

nPatients OTHER SPECIFY THYROID PAPILLARY CARCINOMA - CLASSICAL/USUAL THYROID PAPILLARY CARCINOMA - FOLLICULAR (>= 99% FOLLICULAR PATTERNED) THYROID PAPILLARY CARCINOMA - TALL CELL (>= 50% TALL CELL FEATURES)
ALL 6 274 83 29
NRAS MUTATED 0 15 19 0
NRAS WILD-TYPE 6 259 64 29

Figure S2.  Get High-res Image Gene #1: 'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #8: 'HISTOLOGICAL.TYPE'

'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus 'NUMBER.OF.LYMPH.NODES'

P value = 5.23e-05 (t-test), Q value = 0.0045

Table S3.  Gene #1: 'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #13: 'NUMBER.OF.LYMPH.NODES'

nPatients Mean (Std.Dev)
ALL 306 3.3 (6.0)
NRAS MUTATED 26 0.9 (2.4)
NRAS WILD-TYPE 280 3.5 (6.2)

Figure S3.  Get High-res Image Gene #1: 'NRAS MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #13: 'NUMBER.OF.LYMPH.NODES'

'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'

P value = 0.00202 (Chi-square test), Q value = 0.17

Table S4.  Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #3: 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'

nPatients STAGE I STAGE II STAGE III STAGE IV STAGE IVA STAGE IVC
ALL 223 44 83 2 32 6
BRAF MUTATED 129 18 59 0 25 4
BRAF WILD-TYPE 94 26 24 2 7 2

Figure S4.  Get High-res Image Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #3: 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'

'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE'

P value = 0.000607 (Fisher's exact test), Q value = 0.05

Table S5.  Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #4: 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE'

nPatients T1 T2 T3 T4
ALL 115 134 126 15
BRAF MUTATED 67 66 89 13
BRAF WILD-TYPE 48 68 37 2

Figure S5.  Get High-res Image Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #4: 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE'

'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'

P value = 0.00043 (Fisher's exact test), Q value = 0.036

Table S6.  Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #5: 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'

nPatients 0 1
ALL 185 166
BRAF MUTATED 97 118
BRAF WILD-TYPE 88 48

Figure S6.  Get High-res Image Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #5: 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'

'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus 'HISTOLOGICAL.TYPE'

P value = 1.94e-19 (Fisher's exact test), Q value = 1.7e-17

Table S7.  Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #8: 'HISTOLOGICAL.TYPE'

nPatients OTHER SPECIFY THYROID PAPILLARY CARCINOMA - CLASSICAL/USUAL THYROID PAPILLARY CARCINOMA - FOLLICULAR (>= 99% FOLLICULAR PATTERNED) THYROID PAPILLARY CARCINOMA - TALL CELL (>= 50% TALL CELL FEATURES)
ALL 6 274 83 29
BRAF MUTATED 3 191 15 27
BRAF WILD-TYPE 3 83 68 2

Figure S7.  Get High-res Image Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #8: 'HISTOLOGICAL.TYPE'

'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus 'EXTRATHYROIDAL.EXTENSION'

P value = 3.75e-07 (Fisher's exact test), Q value = 3.3e-05

Table S8.  Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #11: 'EXTRATHYROIDAL.EXTENSION'

nPatients MINIMAL (T3) MODERATE/ADVANCED (T4A) NONE VERY ADVANCED (T4B)
ALL 101 11 266 1
BRAF MUTATED 79 11 140 0
BRAF WILD-TYPE 22 0 126 1

Figure S8.  Get High-res Image Gene #2: 'BRAF MUTATION STATUS' versus Clinical Feature #11: 'EXTRATHYROIDAL.EXTENSION'

Methods & Data
Input
  • Mutation data file = transformed.cor.cli.txt

  • Clinical data file = THCA-TP.merged_data.txt

  • Number of patients = 392

  • Number of significantly mutated genes = 6

  • Number of selected clinical features = 15

  • Exclude genes that fewer than K tumors have mutations, K = 3

Survival analysis

For survival clinical features, the Kaplan-Meier survival curves of tumors with and without gene mutations were plotted and the statistical significance P values were estimated by logrank test (Bland and Altman 2004) using the 'survdiff' function in R

Student's t-test analysis

For continuous numerical clinical features, two-tailed Student's t test with unequal variance (Lehmann and Romano 2005) was applied to compare the clinical values between tumors with and without gene mutations using 't.test' function in R

Chi-square test

For multi-class clinical features (nominal or ordinal), Chi-square tests (Greenwood and Nikulin 1996) were used to estimate the P values using the 'chisq.test' function in R

Fisher's exact test

For binary or multi-class clinical features (nominal or ordinal), two-tailed Fisher's exact tests (Fisher 1922) were used to estimate the P values using the 'fisher.test' function in R

Q value calculation

For multiple hypothesis correction, Q value is the False Discovery Rate (FDR) analogue of the P value (Benjamini and Hochberg 1995), defined as the minimum FDR at which the test may be called significant. We used the 'Benjamini and Hochberg' method of 'p.adjust' function in R to convert P values into Q values.

Download Results

In addition to the links below, the full results of the analysis summarized in this report can also be downloaded programmatically using firehose_get, or interactively from either the Broad GDAC website or TCGA Data Coordination Center Portal.

References
[1] Bland and Altman, Statistics notes: The logrank test, BMJ 328(7447):1073 (2004)
[2] Lehmann and Romano, Testing Statistical Hypotheses (3E ed.), New York: Springer. ISBN 0387988645 (2005)
[3] Greenwood and Nikulin, A guide to chi-squared testing, Wiley, New York. ISBN 047155779X (1996)
[4] Fisher, R.A., On the interpretation of chi-square from contingency tables, and the calculation of P, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 85(1):87-94 (1922)
[5] Benjamini and Hochberg, Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B 59:289-300 (1995)