Explore a cohort

What to do: Start by asking K-Pro about a cohort's composition to understand what's available before diving into specifics. Always specify the exact TCGA cohort code (e.g., TCGA-BRCA, TCGA-LUAD) rather than the disease name alone.

Which tool: Plotter (clinical characterization)

Example prompt:

Provide clinical characteristics of the TCGA-BRCA cohort. Include the distribution of tumor stage and age at diagnosis.

Expected result: A clinical characteristics table (often called a "Table 1") and/or distribution plots showing the clinical breakdown of the TCGA-BRCA cohort. Continuous variables are summarized as mean (SD) or median [IQR], categorical variables as counts and percentages, with a column for missing data.

Follow-up:

Show the same clinical characteristics stratified by tumor stage, and test for differences between stages.

When you stratify by a group, the table adds between-group p-values so you can spot imbalances before a comparison.

A-S-R-T-C breakdown: Show [A] clinical characteristics [S: cohort variables] at bulk level [R] as summary tables [T] in TCGA-BRCA [C].