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Datasets/TCGA-TGCT

Testicular Germ Cell Tumors

MixedMachine-extracted
TCGAAvailable from GDC and IDC

More than 90% of testicular cancer start in the germ cells, which are cells in the testicles and develop into sperm. This type of cancer is known as testicular germ cell cancer. Testicular germ cell cancer can be classified as either seminomas or nonseminomas, which may be identified by microscopy. Nonseminomas typically grow and spread more quickly than seminomas. A testicular germ cell tumor that contains a mix of both these subtypes is classified as a nonseminoma. TCGA studied both seminomas and nonseminomas. Testicular germ cell cancer is rare, comprising 1-2% of all tumors in males. However, it is the most common cancer in men ages 15 to 35. The incidence of testicular germ cell cancer has been continuously rising in many countries, including Europe and the U.S. In 2013, about 8,000 American men were estimated to be diagnosed with the cancer. Of those, 370 are predicted to die from the disease. Men who are Caucasian, have an undescended testicle, abnormally developed testicles, or a family history of testicular cancer have a greater risk of developing testicular cancer. Fortunately, testicular germ cell cancer is highly treatable. Please see the DICOM converted Slide Microscopy images for the TCGA-TGCT collection page to learn more about the histopathology images and to obtain any supporting metadata for this collection.

Can it answer your research question?

4 of 6 supported
  • Overall survival

    Limited

    Vital status is informative for 94% of cases, but too few events or no time to event.API

  • Progression or recurrence

    Limited

    progression_or_recurrence is informative for 14% of cases.API

  • Treatment response

    Supported

    disease_response is populated for 94% of cases; criteria: complete response, no measurable disease.API

  • Which drug was given

    Supported

    therapeutic_agents is recorded for 38% of cases.API

  • Stage-adjusted modelling

    Supported

    ajcc_pathologic_stage is informative for 92% of cases.API

  • Analysis by race or ethnicity

    Supported

    Race is informative for 89% 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
263
Measurement types
12
13,010 files, 129 TB
Follow-upAPI
4.3 years
for 247 of 263 cases; no survival endpoint
Treatment responseAPI
Recorded
complete response, no measurable disease, partial response

SubjectCALC

Testis

As filed by the repository

Germ Cell NeoplasmsTesticlesTestis

Who is in the cohortAPI

A usable value“Not reported” or “unknown”No value recorded
  • Sex263 male
  • Race223 white · 6 black or african american · 4 asian · 17 not reported · 13 unknown
  • Ethnicity190 not hispanic or latino · 29 hispanic or latino · 43 not reported · 1 unknown
  • Vital status240 alive · 7 dead · 16 not reported

Age at diagnosis

Median 32, middle half 27–39, range 15–68 years across 247 cases.

What was measured, and on how many

12 measurement types, 2 covering the whole cohort.

  • Whole-slide tissue images263 of 263 · 100%
  • Clinical263 of 263 · 100%
  • Whole genome sequencing253 of 263 · 96%
  • Somatic Structural Variation252 of 263 · 96%
  • Bulk RNA sequencing150 of 263 · 57%
  • microRNA sequencing150 of 263 · 57%
  • Whole exome sequencing150 of 263 · 57%
  • SNP genotyping array (copy number, germline)150 of 263 · 57%
  • DNA methylation array150 of 263 · 57%
  • DICOM medical imaging150 of 263 · 57%
  • Reverse phase protein array118 of 263 · 45%
  • ATAC sequencing (chromatin accessibility)9 of 263 · 3%
Platform, files and data levels
AssayPlatformFilesLevels
Whole-slide tissue imagesAPIillumina273-
ClinicalAPI-677-
Whole genome sequencingAPIillumina4,319-
Somatic Structural VariationAPI-1,138-
Bulk RNA sequencingAPIillumina1,404-
microRNA sequencingAPIillumina468-
Whole exome sequencingAPIillumina2,472-
SNP genotyping array (copy number, germline)APIillumina1,985-
DNA methylation arrayAPIillumina468-
DICOM medical imagingAPI--DICOM series
Reverse phase protein arrayAPIillumina122-
ATAC sequencing (chromatin accessibility)APIillumina9-
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 deathAPI3%
  • Progression or recurrenceAPI0%
  • Last known disease statusAPI0%

Follow-up

  • Disease response at follow-upAPI90%
  • ECOG performance statusAPI75%
  • Progression at follow-upAPI14%

Treatment

  • Treatment type1:nAPI100%
  • Treatment given1:nAPI100%
  • Prior treatment1:nAPI94%
  • Treatment outcomeAPI62%
  • Therapeutic agents1:nAPI38%
  • Regimen or line of therapyAPI<1%

Staging

  • AJCC pathologic stageAPI92%
  • AJCC clinical stageAPI91%

Diagnosis

  • Primary diagnosis1:nAPI100%
  • Tissue or organ of origin1:nAPI100%
  • Synchronous malignancyAPI100%
  • Prior malignancyAPI94%

Pathology

  • Morphology (ICD-O)1:nAPI100%
  • Classification of tumor1:nAPI100%
  • Tumor gradeAPI0%

Demographics

  • Sex at birthAPI100%
  • Country of residenceAPI100%
  • RaceAPI89%
  • EthnicityAPI83%
  • 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
5,094 open-access files
Controlled components
7,916 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
53
accession in the methods; 93% of a 28-article sample really cited it
Declared using it
12
named in a data availability statement
Cited the paper
359
attention to the publication, not reuse of the data
Against expectation
Somewhat below
about 127 articles expected; index -1.24

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 paper359
  • Mentioned the dataset2
  • Accession found in text0
  • Declared using it12
  • Analyzed the data53

Against comparable datasets

53 articles analyzed these data. About 127 would be expected. The expectation comes from a model of size, age, breadth and access tier.

  • Analyzed it53
  • Expected~127
Well known, little used
The publication has 359 citations, about 7 for every article that analyzed the data. The finding travelled further than the resource did.
How this count was corrected
Europe PMC returned 57 articles for METHODS:"TCGA-TGCT", but it indexes the hyphen in TCGA-TGCT as a word break, so that query also matches the two words in ordinary prose. Of 28 sampled articles whose full text we could read, 26 contained the literal accession (77-98%, 95% interval). The published figure is the raw count scaled by that fraction.
Reuse assessment
  • Reuse is within the expected range for comparable datasets (index -1.24).

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

Original publication

Articles that analyzed the data

Examples, not the full list. 70 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 3 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-TGCT"
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-TGCT"]}}
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-TGCT_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_tgct"
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_tgct")
This page as data: limitations firstbash
curl -s https://cd2s.vercel.app/data/datasets/gdc-tcga-tgct.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-TGCT

    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

    5,094 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

    7,916 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-TGCT"]}}' \
      --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

  • U24CA210988RNA sequencing analysis of CancerKATHERINE A. HOADLEY, David N HayesFY2016-2020API
  • U24CA210969Integrative Cancer Epigenomic Data Analysis Center (ICE-DAC)PETER W LAIRD, Benjamin P BermanFY2016-2020API
  • U24CA210949Batch effects in molecular profiling data on cancers: detection, quantitation, interpretation, and correctionRehan Akbani, GORDON B. MILLSFY2016-2020API
  • 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
  • U24CA143848Gene Expression Patterns in Human Tumors Identified Using Transcript SequencingDavid N Hayes, CHARLES M PEROUFY2009-2016API

and 6 more

Funded reuse of these data

  • R01CA262516Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cell Regulation of Pancreatic Cancer ImmunityVinod P Balachandran, Taha MerghoubFY2022-2025API
  • R01CA114478Inherited genetic variation and predisposition to testicular germ cell tumorKatherine L. NathansonFY2007-2011API
  • T32CA009302Leveraging innovative technologies in basic and clinical cancer researchLAURA D ATTARDI, Aaron M NewmanFY1985-2026API
  • R01CA198291Preclinical Testing of a Novel Therapy Targeting AXL in Advanced Kidney CancerErinn B Rankin, Amato J. GiacciaFY2016-2020API

Funded infrastructure or harmonization

  • P50CA257881Homologous recombination deficiency and beyond in pancreatic cancer: evaluating the regulators of response to pembrolizumab and olaparib (POLAR) from the immune and genomic perspectivesEileen Mary O'Reilly, Alice Chia- chi WeiFY2022-2026API
  • P30CA008748Antitumor AssessmentElisa de Stanchina, FRANCESCA M GANYFY1985-2026API
  • U01CA164947Post genome wide association studies in testicular germ cell tumorsPETER A KANETSKY, Katherine L. NathansonFY2012-2024API
  • P30CA016520Clinical Protocol and Data ManagementAmy S Clark, Sunita NastaFY1985-2026API
  • P30CA124435BiostatisticsMANISHA DESAI, Ryan D. LeibFY2007-2026API

For softwarerecord JSON