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Datasets/TCGA-CHOL

Cholangiocarcinoma

MixedMachine-extracted
TCGAAvailable from GDC and IDC

Cholangiocarcinoma is a cancer that develops in the bile duct. The bile duct is a network of tubes that carry bile from the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine. Tumors that start in bile duct branches that lie inside the liver are called intrahepatic bile duct cancer, while those that form outside the liver are called extrahepatic bile duct cancer. About 10% of all cholangiocarcinoma are intrahepatic and 90% are extrahepatic. TCGA studied both subtypes of cholangiocarcinoma. Although cholangiocarcinoma is a rare cancer, the incidence and mortality rates for the disease have been increasing worldwide in the last three decades. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma each year, the majority of them with tumors at advanced stages. This cancer is more prevalent in Asia and the Middle East, where parasitic infection of the bile duct increases the risk of cholangiocarcinoma. Other diseases of the bile duct or liver, such as bile duct stones and liver disease, obesity, diabetes, and smoking are also risk factors. When intrahepatic and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma spread to other parts of the body, only 2% of patients survive five years after diagnosis. Please see the DICOM converted Slide Microscopy images for the TCGA-CHOL collection page to learn more about the histopathology images and to obtain any supporting metadata for this collection.

Can it answer your research question?

5 of 6 supported
  • Overall survival

    Supported

    Vital status and time are populated; median follow-up 1.9 years; 48 cases with follow-up; endpoint: overall survival.API

  • Progression or recurrence

    Supported

    progression_or_recurrence is informative for 35% of cases.API

  • Treatment response

    Supported

    disease_response is populated for 92% of cases; criteria: complete response, partial response.API

  • Which drug was given

    Limited

    therapeutic_agents is recorded for 18% of cases.API

  • Stage-adjusted modelling

    Supported

    ajcc_pathologic_stage is informative for 94% of cases.API

  • Analysis by race or ethnicity

    Supported

    Race is informative for 92% of cases.API

Judged from the repository’s own field completeness (thresholds). “Not measured” means we have not probed that field for this record, not that the data lack it.

At a glance

Every percentage is the repository’s own record of what is filled in
CasesAPI2
51
Measurement types
12
3,171 files, 22 TB
Follow-upAPI
22.3 months
for 48 of 51 cases; overall survival
Treatment responseAPI
Recorded
complete response, partial response, progressive disease

SubjectCALC

Biliary tractLiverPancreas

As filed by the repository

Adenomas and AdenocarcinomasBile DuctLiver and intrahepatic bile ductsOther and unspecified parts of biliary tractPancreas

Who is in the cohortAPI

A usable value“Not reported” or “unknown”No value recorded
  • Sex27 female · 21 male · 3 no value recorded
  • Race41 white · 3 asian · 3 black or african american · 1 unknown · 3 no value recorded
  • Ethnicity43 not hispanic or latino · 2 hispanic or latino · 2 unknown · 1 not reported · 3 no value recorded
  • Vital status26 alive · 22 dead · 3 no value recorded

Age at diagnosis

Median 67, middle half 58–73, range 29–82 years across 45 cases.

What was measured, and on how many

12 measurement types, 3 covering the whole cohort.

  • Whole exome sequencing51 of 51 · 100%
  • Clinical51 of 51 · 100%
  • DICOM medical imaging51 of 51 · 100%
  • Whole genome sequencing49 of 51 · 96%
  • Somatic Structural Variation49 of 51 · 96%
  • Whole-slide diagnostic images39 of 51 · 76%
  • Bulk RNA sequencing36 of 51 · 71%
  • microRNA sequencing36 of 51 · 71%
  • SNP genotyping array (copy number, germline)36 of 51 · 71%
  • DNA methylation array36 of 51 · 71%
  • Reverse phase protein array30 of 51 · 59%
  • ATAC sequencing (chromatin accessibility)5 of 51 · 10%
Platform, files and data levels
AssayPlatformFilesLevels
Whole exome sequencingAPIillumina829-
ClinicalAPI-116-
DICOM medical imagingAPI--DICOM series
Whole genome sequencingAPIillumina783-
Somatic Structural VariationAPI-204-
Whole-slide diagnostic imagesAPIillumina39-
Bulk RNA sequencingAPIillumina396-
microRNA sequencingAPIillumina135-
SNP genotyping array (copy number, germline)APIillumina520-
DNA methylation arrayAPIillumina135-
Reverse phase protein arrayAPIillumina30-
ATAC sequencing (chromatin accessibility)APIillumina5-
How complete all 29 clinical fields are - 17 informative for at least 80% of cases

A field counts as informative only when it holds a real value. “Not reported” blocks an analysis just as a missing field does. Fields marked 1:n can hold several records per case, so they show the share of cases with any record.

Informative - a usable valuePresent but uninformative - “not reported” or “unknown”Absent - no value recorded

Outcome

  • Vital statusAPI94%
  • Cause of deathAPI0%
  • Progression or recurrenceAPI0%
  • Last known disease statusAPI0%

Follow-up

  • Disease response at follow-up1:nAPI92%
  • ECOG performance statusAPI73%
  • Progression at follow-upAPI35%

Treatment

  • Prior treatment1:nAPI94%
  • Treatment type1:nAPI94%
  • Treatment given1:nAPI94%
  • Therapeutic agents1:nAPI18%
  • Treatment outcomeAPI18%
  • Regimen or line of therapyAPI0%

Staging

  • AJCC pathologic stage1:nAPI94%
  • AJCC clinical stageAPI0%

Diagnosis

  • Primary diagnosis1:nAPI94%
  • Tissue or organ of origin1:nAPI94%
  • Prior malignancyAPI94%
  • Synchronous malignancyAPI94%

Pathology

  • Morphology (ICD-O)1:nAPI94%
  • Tumor gradeAPI94%
  • Classification of tumor1:nAPI94%

Demographics

  • Sex at birthAPI94%
  • Country of residenceAPI94%
  • RaceAPI92%
  • EthnicityAPI88%
  • Population groupAPI0%

Exposure

  • Tobacco smoking statusAPI0%
  • Alcohol historyAPI0%

Access

MixedSome components are open; others need approval.API

Data Access Request through dbGaP using an eRA Commons account; institutional signing official approval required

Open components
1,171 open-access files
Controlled components
2,000 controlled-access files
Typical turnaround
days to a few weeks after signing official approval
License
NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy terms
Citation requirement
Cite the dataset accession and the program's publication guidelines; see the GDC publication policy.

What it is good for

Written and checked by a reviewer, not generated from metadata.

No reviewed research questions yet. The measurements and field completeness above are machine-extracted and still useful for judging fit.

What it cannot tell you

Written by a reviewer against the source, not inferred from what is missing.

No reviewed limitations yet. Check the field completeness chart above before committing to an analysis. Low coverage on an endpoint you need is the most common blocker.

Who has used it

Articles that analyzed these data, counted separately from articles that only cited the paper. Only the first counts as reuse.

Analyzed the dataCALC2
195
accession in the methods; 100% of a 30-article sample really cited it
Declared using it
25
named in a data availability statement
Cited the paper
409
attention to the publication, not reuse of the data
Against expectation
As expected or above
about 68 articles expected; index 1.51

What articles did with it

Only the last row counts as reuse. Where the accession appears in an article tells us what the authors did with the data.

  • Cited the paper409
  • Mentioned the dataset9
  • Accession found in text0
  • Declared using it25
  • Analyzed the data195

Against comparable datasets

195 articles analyzed these data. About 68 would be expected. The expectation comes from a model of size, age, breadth and access tier.

  • Analyzed it195
  • Expected~68
Reuse assessment
  • Reuse is within the expected range for comparable datasets (index +1.51).

Compared against 132 datasets in this corpus with a citable accession and sufficient metadata. See Methods for the model.

Articles that analyzed the data

Examples, not the full list. 72 articles matching this dataset's accession search were retrieved and graded individually; these are the strongest of those.

Deep-review sample: author overlap and funding were checked only for the 10 articles listed here, not for every article examined. Of the 10 that analyzed the data, 10 of the 10 we could check had no author in common with the generating team, and 0 of the 10 we could check were themselves NCI-funded. These are sample counts, not population estimates.

Community examples

Share your example

Analyses someone ran on these data end to end, each with a receipt recording when it ran, against which packages and for how long.

Nobody has shared an analysis of this dataset yet. The examples on other datasets cover the common patterns and can be adapted - and if you adapt one, it belongs here.

Start here

Starter code generated from this record’s own identifiers, then the access steps.

Get the data in code

GDC: list open files and download thempython

Open-access files need no account. Controlled files need an approved dbGaP request and a token passed to gdc-client.

import json, requests

PROJECT = "TCGA-CHOL"
filters = {"op": "and", "content": [
    {"op": "in", "content": {"field": "cases.project.project_id", "value": [PROJECT]}},
    {"op": "in", "content": {"field": "access", "value": ["open"]}},
]}
params = {"filters": json.dumps(filters),
          "fields": "file_id,file_name,data_category,data_type,file_size",
          "size": "10000", "format": "JSON"}
files = requests.get("https://api.gdc.cancer.gov/files", params=params, timeout=60).json()["data"]["hits"]
print(len(files), "open files")

# Write a manifest and fetch with the GDC client (https://gdc.cancer.gov/access-data/gdc-data-transfer-tool)
with open("manifest.txt", "w") as fh:
    fh.write("id\n" + "\n".join(f["file_id"] for f in files))
# $ gdc-client download -m manifest.txt
GDC: clinical table for every casepython
import json, requests

filters = {"op": "in", "content": {"field": "project.project_id", "value": ["TCGA-CHOL"]}}
params = {"filters": json.dumps(filters), "size": "5000", "format": "TSV",
          "fields": ",".join([
              "submitter_id", "demographic.vital_status", "demographic.days_to_death",
              "diagnoses.days_to_last_follow_up", "diagnoses.ajcc_pathologic_stage",
              "diagnoses.treatments.treatment_type", "diagnoses.treatments.treatment_outcome"])}
tsv = requests.get("https://api.gdc.cancer.gov/cases", params=params, timeout=60).text
open("TCGA-CHOL_clinical.tsv", "w").write(tsv)
IDC: pull the DICOM collection with idc-indexpython

pip install idc-index. Images are public; the package uses s5cmd under the hood.

from idc_index import IDCClient

COLLECTION = "tcga_chol"
client = IDCClient()

series = client.index[client.index["collection_id"] == COLLECTION]   # one row per DICOM series
print(len(series), "series,", series["PatientID"].nunique(), "patients,",
      round(series["series_size_MB"].sum() / 1024, 1), "GB")
print(series["Modality"].value_counts().to_dict())

# Everything above is an index lookup and costs nothing. Uncomment to pull the pixels;
# the client refuses up front if the disk cannot hold them.
# client.download_from_selection(collection_id=COLLECTION, downloadDir="./tcga_chol")
This page as data: limitations firstbash
curl -s https://cd2s.vercel.app/data/datasets/gdc-tcga-chol.json | python3 -c '
import json, sys
r = json.load(sys.stdin)
for l in r["limitations"]:
    print(l["severity"].upper(), "-", l["statement"][:120])
print("survival endpoint:", r["longitudinal"]["has_survival_endpoint"], "| treatment response:", r["longitudinal"]["has_treatment_response"])'

Access steps

  1. 1
    Open the project in the GDC Data PortalFor people5 minutes

    Check the portal's current case and file counts before requesting anything; the cohort can change after this record was built.

    https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/projects/TCGA-CHOL

    Generated from repository policy. Check the linked policy before downloading.

  2. 2
    Download the open files without an accountFor peopleminutes to hours, by cohort size

    1,171 open-access files are marked open access. Add them to a portal cart, export a manifest, and fetch it with the GDC Data Transfer Tool.

    gdc-client download -m gdc_manifest.txt
    https://gdc.cancer.gov/access-data/gdc-data-transfer-tool

    Generated from repository policy. Check the linked policy before downloading.

  3. 3
    Request controlled access through dbGaPFor peopledays to a few weeks after signing official approval

    2,000 controlled-access files require an approved data access request. The request starts at dbGaP, not in the portal. The relevant study is phs000178.

    Requires: eRA Commons account, institutional signing official approval, dbGaP data access request for phs000178

    https://gdc.cancer.gov/access-data/obtaining-access-controlled-data

    Generated from repository policy. Check the linked policy before downloading.

  4. 4
    Download controlled files with your tokenFor people

    An approved request yields a token. The same manifest fetches nothing controlled without it.

    Requires: approved dbGaP request, GDC authentication token

    gdc-client download -m gdc_manifest.txt -t gdc-user-token.txt
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/gap/cgi-bin/study.cgi?study_id=phs000178

    Generated from repository policy. Check the linked policy before downloading.

  5. 5
    Query the project from code, with no credentialsFor agents

    The file index is public even where files are not, so an agent can size the cohort before anyone requests access.

    curl -s 'https://api.gdc.cancer.gov/files' --get \
      --data-urlencode 'filters={"op":"in","content":{"field":"cases.project.project_id","value":["TCGA-CHOL"]}}' \
      --data-urlencode 'fields=file_id,file_name,data_type' \
      --data-urlencode 'size=10000' --data-urlencode 'format=TSV'
    https://docs.gdc.cancer.gov/API/Users_Guide/Getting_Started/

    Generated from repository policy. Check the linked policy before downloading.

  6. 6
    Pass the token when the agent needs controlled filesFor agents

    Without a token, an API query may return only the open subset. Compare returned counts with the record before treating them as the whole cohort.

    Requires: GDC authentication token

    curl -H "X-Auth-Token: $GDC_TOKEN" https://api.gdc.cancer.gov/data/<file_id>
    https://docs.gdc.cancer.gov/API/Users_Guide/Getting_Started/

    Generated from repository policy. Check the linked policy before downloading.

Provenance

All of it, and more, is in this record’s JSON.

Identifiers

Versions and verification

Released
1 Jan 2017
Metadata retrieved
18 Sept 2026
Review status
Machine-extracted
Data generation funding
Funded data generation

Funding

Awards resolved through NIH RePORTER. Awards that paid to generate these data are listed apart from awards that paid to reuse them. Both are returns on NCI investment, but different ones.

Funded data generation

  • U24CA210990UCSC-Buck Specialized Genomic Data Analysis Center for the Genomic Data Analysis NetworkJOSHUA Michael STUARTFY2016-2020API
  • U24CA210950Integrated analysis of protein expression data from the Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA) platformRehan Akbani, GORDON B. MILLSFY2016-2020API
  • U24CA210949Batch effects in molecular profiling data on cancers: detection, quantitation, interpretation, and correctionRehan Akbani, GORDON B. MILLSFY2016-2020API
  • U24CA199461Next-Generation Clustered Heat Maps for fluent, interactive exploration of omic dataBradley McIntosh Broom, John N WeinsteinFY2015-2019API
  • U24CA144025Harvard Genome Characterization CenterRaju S. KucherlapatiFY2009-2016API
  • U24CA143883Integrative Pipeline for Analysis & Translational Application of TCGA Data (GDAC)Rehan Akbani, GORDON B. MILLSFY2009-2016API
  • U24CA143882The USC-JHU Cancer Epigenome Characterization CenterSTEPHEN B. BAYLIN, Daniel Joseph WeisenbergerFY2009-2016API
  • U24CA143867Genome Characterization Center (GCC)Stacey Gabriel, Matthew L. MeyersonFY2009-2016API
  • U24CA143866Cancer transcriptome characterization using massively parallel DNA sequencingMarco Antonio MarraFY2009-2015API
  • U24CA143858UCSC-Buck Inst. Genome Data Analysis Center for TCGA Research Network (GDAC)Christopher Benz, DAVID H HAUSSLERFY2009-2016API

and 7 more

For softwarerecord JSON