Repository logo
 

Comprehensive analysis of chromothripsis in 2,658 human cancers using whole-genome sequencing

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Change log

Authors

Jain, Dhawal 
Jung, Youngsook L. 
Yang, Lixing 

Abstract

Abstract: Chromothripsis is a mutational phenomenon characterized by massive, clustered genomic rearrangements that occurs in cancer and other diseases. Recent studies in selected cancer types have suggested that chromothripsis may be more common than initially inferred from low-resolution copy-number data. Here, as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we analyze patterns of chromothripsis across 2,658 tumors from 38 cancer types using whole-genome sequencing data. We find that chromothripsis events are pervasive across cancers, with a frequency of more than 50% in several cancer types. Whereas canonical chromothripsis profiles display oscillations between two copy-number states, a considerable fraction of events involve multiple chromosomes and additional structural alterations. In addition to non-homologous end joining, we detect signatures of replication-associated processes and templated insertions. Chromothripsis contributes to oncogene amplification and to inactivation of genes such as mismatch-repair-related genes. These findings show that chromothripsis is a major process that drives genome evolution in human cancer.

Description

Funder: Ludwig Center at Harvard


Funder: National Cancer Institute: K22CA193848


Funder: US National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program Project Z1AES103266

Keywords

Analysis, /631/67, /631/114, /631/208/212, /45, /45/23, analysis

Journal Title

Nature Genetics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1061-4036
1546-1718

Volume Title

52

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group US
Sponsorship
EC | EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020 | H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology (H2020 The European Institute of Innovation and Technology) (703543)