TERT

Across TCGA pan-cancer cohorts, TERT RNA is linked to patient survival in 26 of 34 cancer types, making it the most broadly survival-associated TERT data layer compared with 7 for mutation status.

The strongest signal is observed in thyroid carcinoma (THCA), where higher TERT RNA is associated with worse disease-free survival. In most high-consensus cancer types, elevated TERT expression acts as an unfavorable survival marker, although some lineages such as THYM and READ show a favorable association.

THCA, KIRP, and MESO are the cancer types where TERT RNA most reproducibly stratifies survival.

RNA survival associations by lineage

Ranked by sampling consensus. AUC1 and AUC2 indicate survival in the high- and low-expression groups, respectively; the lower AUC marks the poorer-surviving group. p-values are from the log-rank test.

Lineage	Measure	Split	Stage	AUC1 high	AUC2 low	p	Sampling consensus
THCA	DFS	Tertile	All	0.622	0.880	<.001	114	view →
KIRP	DFS	Median	All	0.748	0.933	<.001	110	view →
MESO	OS	Median	All	0.264	0.502	<.001	103	view →
UVM	DFS	Tertile	All	0.394	0.793	<.001	77	view →
ACC	DFS	Median	All	0.393	0.758	<.001	76	view →
KIRC	DFS	Quartile	All	0.492	0.674	<.001	68	view →
LIHC	OS	Median	II,III,IV	0.563	0.814	.001	34	view →
COAD	DFS	Tertile	All	0.588	0.753	.002	32	view →
LGG	OS	Median	All	0.844	0.942	<.001	29	view →
SARC	OS	Tertile	All	0.614	0.799	<.001	29	view →
PRAD	OS	Median	All	0.811	1.000	.001	24	view →
LUAD	DFS	Median	All	0.744	0.832	.006	22	view →

Pink = unfavorable, green = favorable. Showing the 12 strongest of 26 lineages.

TERT–THCA (DFS)

Open the THCA breakdown →