PubMedID	StudyType	Disease	Technology	Affiliation	Author	Title	Journal	PublishDate	Abstract	Species	GEO	dbGaP	ENA	BPNumber	CNAStates	HeadTailInfo
24440784	Research	Loeys-Dietz syndrome	Array CGH	Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, Federico II University, Naples, Italy	Paolo Fontana, Rita Genesio, Alberto Casertano, Gerarda Cappuccio, Angela Mormile, Lucio Nitsch, Achille Iolascon, Generoso Andria, Daniela Melis	Loeys-Dietz syndrome type 4, caused by chromothripsis, involving the TGFB2 gene	Gene	2014 Jan	The TGF-beta signaling pathway controls cellular proliferation, growth and differentiation and regulates several functions of the connective tissue. Disruption of genes coding for components of the TGF-beta signaling pathway or its interactors, such as fibrillin-1, has been shown to cause several human pathologies. Large deletions and non-sense mutations in TGFB2 gene have been recently described in patients with aortic aneurysm, scoliosis, arachnodactyly, chest deformities, joint hyper-flexibility, and mild intellectual disability; this condition has been called Loeys-Dietz syndrome, type 4. In this paper we describe an 18-year-old girl with borderline mental impairment, seizures, retinal degeneration, short stature, congenital hip dysplasia, severe and worsening joint hypermobility, scoliosis, progressive deformation of the long bones, aortic dilatation and platelet disorder. Molecular study of DNA by Array CGH demonstrated four de novo microdeletions: TGFB2 is among the genes deleted and we consider it the obvious candidate for the clinical phenotype. The multiple chromosomal rearrangements detected in the current patient can be ascribed to an event of constitutional chromothripsis.	Homo sapiens				NA	2	NA
24462510	Research	Hepatocellular carcinoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Pfizer Oncology, San Diego, CA, USA	Julio Fernandez-Banet, Nikki P. Lee, Kin Tak Chan, Huan Gao, Xiao Liu, Wing-Kin Sung,Winnie Tan, Sheung Tat Fan, Ronnie T. Poon, Shiyong Li, Keith Ching, Paul A. Rejto, Mao Mao, Zhengyan Kan	Decoding complex patterns of genomic rearrangement in hepatocellular carcinoma 	Genomics	2014 Jan	Elucidating the molecular basis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is crucial to developing targeted diagnostics and therapies for this deadly disease. The landscape of somatic genomic rearrangements (GRs), which can lead to oncogenic gene fusions, remains poorly characterized in HCC. We have predicted 4314 GRs including large-scale insertions, deletions, inversions and translocations based on the whole-genome sequencing data for 88 primary HCC tumor/non-tumor tissues. We identified chromothripsis in 5 HCC genomes (5.7%) recurrently affecting chromosomal arms 1q and 8q. Albumin (ALB) was found to harbor GRs, deactivating mutations and deletions in 10% of cohort. Integrative analysis identified a pattern of paired intra-chromosomal translocations flanking focal amplifications and asymmetrical patterns of copy number variation flanking breakpoints of translocations. Furthermore, we predicted 260 gene fusions which frequently result in aberrant over-expression of the 3' genes in tumors and validated 18 gene fusions, including recurrent fusion (2/88) of ABCB11 and LRP2.	Homo sapiens	GSE25097		ERP001196	>=30	3	Yes
23911237	Research	Acute myeloid leukemia		Victorian Cancer Cytogenetics Service, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, Australia	Ruth N. MacKinnon, Lynda J. Campbell	Chromothripsis under the microscope: a cytogenetic perspective of two cases of AML with catastrophic chromosome rearrangement	Cancer Genet	2013 May	Chromothripsis is a recently described phenomenon identified in cancer cells that produces catastrophic chromosome reorganization of one or a small number of chromosomes. It has been proposed that the multiple breakage events occur at a single point in time. Here we introduce the term anachromosome to describe an abnormal chromosome produced by chromothripsis. We report two cases of acute myeloid leukemia matching the description of chromothripsis that illustrate different aspects of this phenomenon from a cytogenetic perspective. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses, including multicolor FISH and FISH for repeat elements that are not present on microarrays and that are resistant to sequencing, helped interpret the rearrangements but did not reveal their level of complexity. The anachromosomes conformed to the normal constraints of chromosome structure by including segments that provide two telomeres and a centromere. In patient samples, there are mixtures of cells with and without deletions. The deletion B allele frequencies for heterozygous loci in a mixture of cells with and without the deletions create a distinctive array pattern that is consistent with all the deletions in the anachromosomes having occurred concurrently. This evidence supporting the single-event hypothesis for chromothripsis has not previously been highlighted, to our knowledge. In the context of exploring mechanisms for chromosome shattering, we discuss a possible connection between chromosome pulverization and fragile sites. Understanding chromothripsis in the context of chromosome biology will help us identify its causes and consequences.	Homo sapiens				>=10	2-3	NA
23550136	Research	Cervical cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany, and University Hospital Heidelberg, Institute of Human Genetics, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany	Jonathan J. M. Landry, Paul Theodor Pyl, Tobias Rausch, Thomas Zichner, Manu M. Tekkedil, Adrian M. Stutz, Anna Jauch, Raeka S. Aiyar, Gregoire Pau, Nicolas Delhomme, Julien Gagneur, Jan O. Korbel, Wolfgang Huber, Lars M. Steinmetz	The Genomic and Transcriptomic Landscape of a HeLa Cell Line	G3 (Bethesda)	2013 Mar	HeLa is the most widely used model cell line for studying human cellular and molecular biology. To date, no genomic reference for this cell line has been released, and experiments have relied on the human reference genome. Effective design and interpretation of molecular genetic studies performed using HeLa cells require accurate genomic information. Here we present a detailed genomic and transcriptomic characterization of a HeLa cell line. We performed DNA and RNA sequencing of a HeLa Kyoto cell line and analyzed its mutational portfolio and gene expression profile. Segmentation of the genome according to copy number revealed a remarkably high level of aneuploidy and numerous large structural variants at unprecedented resolution. Some of the extensive genomic rearrangements are indicative of catastrophic chromosome shattering, known as chromothripsis. Our analysis of the HeLa gene expression profile revealed that several pathways, including cell cycle and DNA repair, exhibit significantly different expression patterns from those in normal human tissues. Our results provide the first detailed account of genomic variants in the HeLa genome, yielding insight into their impact on gene expression and cellular function as well as their origins. This study underscores the importance of accounting for the strikingly aberrant characteristics of HeLa cells when designing and interpreting experiments, and has implications for the use of HeLa as a model of human biology.	Homo sapiens		phs000643		>=20	3-7	NA
23699601	Research	Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada	Ryan D. Morin, Karen Mungall, Erin Pleasance, Andrew J. Mungall, Rodrigo Goya, Ryan D. Huff, David W. Scott, Jiarui Ding, Andrew Roth, Readman Chiu, Richard D. Corbett, Fong Chun Chan, Maria Mendez-Lago, Diane L. Trinh, Madison Bolger-Munro, Greg Taylor, Alireza Hadj Khodabakhshi, Susana Ben-Neriah, Julia Pon, Barbara Meissner, Bruce Woolcock, Noushin Farnoud, Sanja Rogic, Emilia L. Lim, Nathalie A. Johnson, Sohrab Shah, Steven Jones, Christian Steidl, Robert Holt, Inanc Birol, Richard Moore, Joseph M. Connors, Randy D. Gascoyne, Marco A. Marra	Mutational and structural analysis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma using whole-genome sequencing	Blood	2013 Aug	Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a genetically heterogeneous cancer composed of at least 2 molecular subtypes that differ in gene expression and distribution of mutations. Recently, application of genome/exome sequencing and RNA-seq to DLBCL has revealed numerous genes that are recurrent targets of somatic point mutation in this disease. Here we provide a whole-genome-sequencing-based perspective of DLBCL mutational complexity by characterizing 40 de novo DLBCL cases and 13 DLBCL cell lines and combining these data with DNA copy number analysis and RNA-seq from an extended cohort of 96 cases. Our analysis identified widespread genomic rearrangements including evidence for chromothripsis as well as the presence of known and novel fusion transcripts. We uncovered new gene targets of recurrent somatic point mutations and genes that are targeted by focal somatic deletions in this disease. We highlight the recurrence of germinal center B-cell-restricted mutations affecting genes that encode the S1P receptor and 2 small GTPases (GNA13 and GNAI2) that together converge on regulation of B-cell homing. We further analyzed our data to approximate the relative temporal order in which some recurrent mutations were acquired and demonstrate that ongoing acquisition of mutations and intratumoral clonal heterogeneity are common features of DLBCL. This study further improves our understanding of the processes and pathways involved in lymphomagenesis, and some of the pathways mutated here may indicate new avenues for therapeutic intervention.	Homo sapiens		phs000532		>=6	3	NA
23915422	Research	Congenital heart defects	Array CGH		Rita Genesio, Valentina Ronga, Pia Castelluccio, Gennaro Fioretti, Angela Mormile, Graziella Leone, Anna Conti, Maria Luigia Cavaliere, Lucio Nitsch	Pure 16q21q22.1 deletion in a complex rearrangement possibly caused by a chromothripsis event	Mol Cytogenet	2013 Aug	Background: Partial monosomies of chromosome 16q are rare and overlapping effects from complex chromosomal rearrangements often hamper genotype-phenotype correlations for such imbalances. Here, we report the clinical features of an isolated partial monosomy 16q21q22.1 in a boy with a complex de novo rearrangement possibly resulting from a chromothripsis event. Results: The patient presented with low birth weight, microcephaly, developmental delay, facial dysmorphisms, short stature, dysmorphic ears and cardiopathy. Standard and molecular cytogenetics showed a complex rearrangement characterised by a pericentromeric inversion in one of chromosomes 12 and an inverted insertional translocation of the 12q14q21.1 region, from the rearranged chromosome 12, into the q21q22.1 tract of a chromosome 16. Array CGH analysis unravelled a partial 16q21q22.1 monosomy, localised in the rearranged chromosome 16. Conclusions: The comparison of the present case to other 16q21q22 monosomies contributed to narrow down the critical region for cardiac anomalies in the 16q22 deletion syndrome. However, more cases, well characterised both for phenotypic signs and genomic details, are needed to further restrict candidate regions for phenotypic signs in 16q deletions. The present case also provided evidence that a very complex rearrangement, possibly caused by a chromothripsis event, might be hidden behind a classical phenotype that is specific for a syndrome.	Homo sapiens				5	2	Yes
23615946	Research	Prostate cancer	Next Generation Sequencing		Teles Alves I, Hiltemann S, Hartjes T, van der Spek P, Stubbs A, Trapman J, Jenster G	Gene fusions by chromothripsis of chromosome 5q in the VCaP prostate cancer cell line	Hum Genet	2013 Apr	The VCaP cell line is widely used in prostate cancer research as it is a unique model to study castrate resistant disease expressing high levels of the wild type androgen receptor and the TMPRSS2-ERG fusion transcript. Using next generation sequencing, we assembled the structural variations in VCaP genomic DNA and observed a massive number of genomic rearrangements along the q arm of chromosome 5, characteristic of chromothripsis. Chromothripsis is a recently recognized phenomenon characterized by extensive chromosomal shattering in a single catastrophic event, mainly detected in cancer cells. Various structural events identified on chromosome 5q of VCaP resulted in gene fusions. Out of the 18 gene fusion candidates tested, 15 were confirmed on genomic level. In our set of gene fusions, only rarely we observe microhomology flanking the breakpoints. On RNA level, only five transcripts were detected and NDUFAF2-MAST4 was the only resulting in an in-frame fusion transcript. Our data indicate that although a marker of genomic instability, chromothripsis might lead to only a limited number of functionally relevant fusion genes.	Homo sapiens				573	3	Yes
23860044	Research	Developmental delay	Next Generation Sequencing	Wilhelm Johannsen Centre for Functional Genome Research, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark	Lusine Nazaryan, Eunice G Stefanou, Claus Hansen, Nadezda Kosyakova, Mads Bak, Freddie H Sharkey, Theodora Mantziou, Anastasios D Papanastasiou, Voula Velissariou, Thomas Liehr, Maria Syrrou, and Niels Tommerup	The strength of combined cytogenetic and mate-pair sequencing techniques illustrated by a germline chromothripsis rearrangement involving FOXP2	Eur J Hum Genet	2013 Jul	Next-generation mate-pair sequencing (MPS) has revealed that many constitutional complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs) are associated with local shattering of chromosomal regions (chromothripsis). Although MPS promises to identify the molecular basis of the abnormal phenotypes associated with many CCRs, none of the reported mate-pair sequenced complex rearrangements have been simultaneously studied with state-of-the art molecular cytogenetic techniques. Here, we studied chromothripsis-associated CCR involving chromosomes 2, 5 and 7, associated with global developmental and psychomotor delay and severe speech disorder. We identified three truncated genes: CDH12, DGKB and FOXP2, confirming the role of FOXP2 in severe speech disorder, and suggestive roles of CDH12 and/or DGKB for the global developmental and psychomotor delay. Our study confirmes the power of MPS for detecting breakpoints and truncated genes at near nucleotide resolution in chromothripsis. However, only by combining MPS data with conventional G-banding and extensive fluorescence in situ hybridizations could we delineate the precise structure of the derivative chromosomes.	Homo sapiens				>=6	2	NA
23716474	Research	Small cell lung cancer	SNP Array	Division of Multistep Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan	Iwakawa R, Takenaka M, Kohno T, Shimada Y, Totoki Y, Shibata T, Tsuta K, Nishikawa R, Noguchi M, Sato-Otsubo A, Ogawa S, Yokota J	Genome-wide identification of genes with amplification and/or fusion in small cell lung cancer	Genes Chromosomes Cancer	2013 May	To obtain a landscape of gross genetic alterations in small cell lung cancer (SCLC), genome-wide copy number analysis and whole-transcriptome sequencing were performed in 58 and 42 SCLCs, respectively. Focal amplification of known oncogene loci, MYCL1 (1p34.2), MYCN (2p24.3), and MYC (8q24.21), was frequently and mutually exclusively detected. MYCL1 and MYC were co-amplified with other regions on either the same or the different chromosome in several cases. In addition, the 9p24.1 region was identified as being amplified in SCLCs without amplification of MYC family oncogenes. Notably, expression of the KIAA1432 gene in this region was significantly higher in KIAA1432 amplified cells than in non-amplified cells, and its mRNA expression showed strong correlations with the copy numbers. Thus, KIAA1432 is a novel gene activated by amplification in SCLCs. By whole-transcriptome sequencing, a total of 60 fusion transcripts, transcribed from 95 different genes, were identified as being expressed in SCLC cells. However, no in-frame fusion transcripts were recurrently detected in >=2 SCLCs, and genes in the amplified regions, such as PVT1 neighboring MYC and RLF in MYCL1 amplicons, were recurrently fused with genes in the same amplicons or with those in different amplicons on either the same or different chromosome. Thus, it was indicated that amplification and fusion of several genes on chromosomes 1 and 8 occur simultaneously but not sequentially through chromothripsis in the development of SCLC, and amplification rather than fusion of genes plays an important role in its development.	Homo sapiens				>=9	2	NA
23991058	Research	Neuroblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Inserm, U900, Paris, France	Valentina Boeva, Stephanie Jouannet, Romain Daveau, Valerie Combaret, Cecile Pierre-Eugene, Alex Cazes, Caroline Louis-Brennetot, Gudrun Schleiermacher, Sandrine Ferrand, Gaelle Pierron, Alban Lermine, Thomas Rio Frio, Virginie Raynal, Gilles Vassal, Emma	Breakpoint Features of Genomic Rearrangements in Neuroblastoma with Unbalanced Translocations and Chromothripsis	PLoS One	2013 Aug	Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer of the peripheral nervous system in which structural chromosome aberrations are emblematic of aggressive tumors. In this study, we performed an in-depth analysis of somatic rearrangements in two neuroblastoma cell lines and two primary tumors using paired-end sequencing of mate-pair libraries and RNA-seq. The cell lines presented with typical genetic alterations of neuroblastoma and the two tumors belong to the group of neuroblastoma exhibiting a profile of chromothripsis. Inter and intra-chromosomal rearrangements were identified in the four samples, allowing in particular characterization of unbalanced translocations at high resolution. Using complementary experiments, we further characterized 51 rearrangements at the base pair resolution that revealed 59 DNA junctions. In a subset of cases, complex rearrangements were observed with templated insertion of fragments of nearby sequences. Although we did not identify known particular motifs in the local environment of the breakpoints, we documented frequent microhomologies at the junctions in both chromothripsis and non-chromothripsis associated breakpoints. RNA-seq experiments confirmed expression of several predicted chimeric genes and genes with disrupted exon structure including ALK, NBAS, FHIT, PTPRD and ODZ4. Our study therefore indicates that both non-homologous end joining-mediated repair and replicative processes may account for genomic rearrangements in neuroblastoma. RNA-seq analysis allows the identification of the subset of abnormal transcripts expressed from genomic rearrangements that may be involved in neuroblastoma oncogenesis.	Homo sapiens			ERP001414;ERP001988	>=18	2-6	Yes
24143197	Research	Cri-du-chat syndrome	Array CGH	Department of Medical Genetics, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, PR China	Heng Gu, Jian-hui Jiang, Jian-ying Li, Ya-nan Zhang, Xing-sheng Dong, Yang-yu Huang, Xinming Son, Xinyan Lu, Zheng Chen	A Familial Cri-du-Chat/5p Deletion Syndrome Resulted from Rare Maternal Complex Chromosomal Rearrangements (CCRs) and/or Possible Chromosome 5p Chromothripsis	PLoS One	2013 Oct	Cri-du-Chat syndrome (MIM 123450) is a chromosomal syndrome characterized by the characteristic features, including cat-like cry and chromosome 5p deletions. We report a family with five individuals showing chromosomal rearrangements involving 5p, resulting from rare maternal complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs), diagnosed post- and pre-natally by comprehensive molecular and cytogenetic analyses. Two probands, including a four-and-half-year-old brother and his two-and-half-year-old sister, showed no diagnostic cat cry during infancy, but presented with developmental delay, dysmorphic and autistic features. Both patients had an interstitial deletion del(5)(p13.3p15.33) spanning about 26.22 Mb. The phenotypically normal mother had de novo CCRs involving 11 breakpoints and three chromosomes: ins(11;5) (q23;p14.1p15.31),ins(21;5)(q21;p13.3p14.1),ins(21;5)(q21;p15.31p15.33),inv(7)(p22q32)dn. In addition to these two children, she had three first-trimester miscarriages, two terminations due to the identification of the 5p deletion and one delivery of a phenotypically normal daughter. The unaffected daughter had the maternal ins(11;5) identified prenatally and an identical maternal allele haplotype of 5p. Array CGH did not detect any copy number changes in the mother, and revealed three interstitial deletions within 5p15.33-p13.3, in the unaffected daughter, likely products of the maternal insertions ins(21;5). Chromothripsis has been recently reported as a mechanism drives germline CCRs in pediatric patients with congenital defects. We postulate that the unique CCRs in the phenotypically normal mother could resulted from chromosome 5p chromothripsis, that further resulted in the interstitial 5p deletions in the unaffected daughter. Further high resolution sequencing based analysis is needed to determine whether chromothripsis is also present as a germline structural variation in phenotypically normal individuals in this family.	Homo sapiens				>=6	2	NA
23612016	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia	Next Generation Sequencing	Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona, Spain	Bassaganyas L, Bea S, Escaramis G, Tornador C, Salaverria I, Zapata L, Drechsel O, Ferreira PG, Rodriguez-Santiago B, Tubio JM, Navarro A, Martin-Garcia D, Lopez C, Martinez-Trillos A, Lopez-Guillermo A, Gut M, Ossowski S, Lopez-Otin C, Campo E, Estivill 	Sporadic and reversible chromothripsis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia revealed by longitudinal genomic analysis	Leukemia	2013 May		Homo sapiens				>=6	3	Yes
24304937	Research	Acute myeloid leukemia	Array CGH	Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA	MA Jacoby, RE De Jesus Pizarro, J Shao, DC Koboldt, RS Fulton, G Zhou, RK Wilson, MJ Walter	The DNA double-strand break response is abnormal in myeloblasts from patients with therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia	Leukemia	2013 Dec	The complex chromosomal aberrations found in therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML) suggest that the DNA double-strand break (DSB) response may be altered. In this study we examined the DNA DSB response of primary bone marrow cells from t-AML patients and performed next-generation sequencing of 37 canonical homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) DNA repair genes, and a subset of DNA damage response genes using tumor and paired normal DNA obtained from t-AML patients. Our results suggest that the majority of t-AML patients (11 of 15) have tumor-cell intrinsic, functional dysregulation of their DSB response. Distinct patterns of abnormal DNA damage response in myeloblasts correlated with acquired genetic alterations in TP53 and the presence of inferred chromothripsis. Furthermore, the presence of trisomy 8 in tumor cells was associated with persistently elevated levels of DSBs. Although tumor-acquired point mutations or small indels in canonical HR and NHEJ genes do not appear to be a dominant means by which t-AML leukemogenesis occurs, our functional studies suggest that an abnormal response to DNA damage is a common finding in t-AML.	Homo sapiens	GSE53250		PRJEB8343	>=20	2	NA
23630094	Research	Hodgkin lymphoma	SNP Array	Department of Human and Animal Cell Lines, Leibniz-Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig,Germany	Stefan Nagel, Corinna Meyer, Hilmar Quentmeier, Maren Kaufmann, Hans G. Drexler, Roderick A. F. MacLeod	Chromothripsis in Hodgkin Lymphoma	Genes Chromosomes Cancer	2013 Apr	Chromosomal rearrangements are common features of most cancers, where they contribute to deregulated gene expression. Chromothripsis is a recently described oncogenic mechanism whereby small genomic pieces originating from one chromosomal region undergo massive rearrangements in a single step. Here, we document chromothripsis in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) cell lines by genomic profiling, showing alternating amplicons of defined chromosomal regions. In L-1236 cells, fluorescent in situ hybridization analyses identified aberrations affecting amplified chromosomal segments that derived from the long arm regions of chromosomes 3 and 9 and that colocalized to a derivative chromosome 6, indicating the cataclysmic origin of this mutation. The ABL1 gene at 9q34 was targeted by these rearrangements leading to its overexpression in L-1236 cells, correlating with pharmacological resistance to treatment with the kinase inhibitor dasatinib. Collectively, we identified and characterized chromothriptic rearrangements in HL cell lines to serve as models for analyzing this novel oncogenomic mechanism.	Homo sapiens	GSE15264			>=10	2-3	NA
23738515	Research	Uterine leiomyoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Medical Genetics, Genome-Scale Biology Research Program, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland	Mehine M, Kaasinen E, Makinen N, Katainen R, Kampjarvi K, Pitkanen E, Heinonen HR, Butzow R, Kilpivaara O, Kuosmanen A, Ristolainen H, Gentile M, Sjoberg J, Vahteristo P, Aaltonen LA	Characterization of Uterine Leiomyomas by Whole-Genome Sequencing	N Engl J Med	2013 Jun	BACKGROUND: Uterine leiomyomas are benign but affect the health of millions of women. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved may provide clues to the prevention and treatment of these lesions. METHODS: We performed whole-genome sequencing and gene-expression profiling of 38 uterine leiomyomas and the corresponding myometrium from 30 women. RESULTS: Identical variants observed in some separate tumor nodules suggested that these nodules have a common origin. Complex chromosomal rearrangements resembling chromothripsis were a common feature of leiomyomas. These rearrangements are best explained by a single event of multiple chromosomal breaks and random reassembly. The rearrangements created tissue-specific changes consistent with a role in the initiation of leiomyoma, such as translocations of the HMGA2 and RAD51B loci and aberrations at the COL4A5-COL4A6 locus, and occurred in the presence of normal TP53 alleles. In some cases, separate events had occurred more than once in single tumor-cell lineages. CONCLUSIONS: Chromosome shattering and reassembly resembling chromothripsis (a single genomic event that results in focal losses and rearrangements in multiple genomic regions) is a major cause of chromosomal abnormalities in uterine leiomyomas; we propose that tumorigenesis occurs when tissue-specific tumor-promoting changes are formed through these events. Chromothripsis has previously been associated with aggressive cancer; its common occurrence in leiomyomas suggests that it also has a role in the genesis and progression of benign tumors. We observed that multiple separate tumors could be seeded from a single lineage of uterine leiomyoma cells.	Homo sapiens			ERP004006	>=20	1-2	Yes
24469795	Research	Bladder cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Center for Personalized Medicine and Departments of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Cancer Genetics, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Pathology, Urology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY 14263.	Morrison CD, Liu P, Woloszynska-Read A, Zhang J, Luo W, Qin M, Bshara W, Conroy JM, Sabatini L, Vedell P, Xiong D, Liu S, Wang J, Shen H, Li Y, Omilian AR, Hill A, Head K, Guru K, Kunnev D, Leach R, Eng KH, Darlak C, Hoeflich C, Veeranki S, Glenn S, You M	Whole-genome sequencing identifies genomic heterogeneity at a nucleotide and chromosomal level in bladder cancer	PNAS	2014 Jan	Using complete genome analysis, we sequenced five bladder tumors accrued from patients with muscle-invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder (TCC-UB) and identified a spectrum of genomic aberrations. In three tumors, complex genotype changes were noted. All three had tumor protein p53 mutations and a relatively large number of single-nucleotide variants (SNVs; average of 11.2 per megabase), structural variants (SVs; average of 46), or both. This group was best characterized by chromothripsis and the presence of subclonal populations of neoplastic cells or intratumoral mutational heterogeneity. Here, we provide evidence that the process of chromothripsis in TCC-UB is mediated by nonhomologous end-joining using kilobase, rather than megabase, fragments of DNA, which we refer to as stitchers, to repair this process. We postulate that a potential unifying theme among tumors with the more complex genotype group is a defective replication-licensing complex. A second group (two bladdertumors) had no chromothripsis, and a simpler genotype, WT tumor protein p53, had relatively few SNVs (average of 5.9 per megabase) and only a single SV. There was no evidence of a subclonal population of neoplastic cells. In this group, we used a preclinical model of bladder carcinoma cell lines to study a unique SV (translocation and amplification) of the gene glutamate receptor ionotropic N-methyl D-aspertate as a potential new therapeutic target in ladder cancer.	Homo sapiens				>=6	2	NA
25799107	Research	Congenital abnormality	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Medical Genetics, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht 3584 CG, the Netherlands	de Pagter MS, van Roosmalen MJ, Baas AF, Renkens I, Duran KJ, van Binsbergen E, Tavakoli-Yaraki M, Hochstenbach R, van der Veken LT, Cuppen E, Kloosterman WP	Chromothripsis in healthy individuals affects multiple protein-coding genes and can result in severe congenital abnormalities in offspring	Am J Hum Genet	2015 Apr	Chromothripsis represents an extreme class of complex chromosome rearrangements (CCRs) with major effects on chromosomal architecture. Although recent studies have associated chromothripsis with congenital abnormalities, the incidence and pathogenic effects of this phenomenon require further investigation. Here, we analyzed the genomes of three families in which chromothripsis rearrangements were transmitted from a mother to her child. The chromothripsis in the mothers resulted in completely balanced rearrangements involving 8-23 breakpoint junctions across three to five chromosomes. Two mothers did not show any phenotypic abnormalities, although 3-13 protein-coding genes were affected by breakpoints. Unbalanced but stable transmission of a subset of the derivative chromosomes caused apparently de novo complex copy-number changes in two children. This resulted in gene-dosage changes, which are probably responsible for the severe congenital phenotypes of these two children. In contrast, the third child, who has a severe congenital disease, harbored all three chromothripsis chromosomes from his healthy mother, but one of the chromosomes acquired de novo rearrangements leading to copy-number changes. These results show that the human genome can tolerate extreme reshuffling of chromosomal architecture, including breakage of multiple protein-coding genes, without noticeable phenotypic effects. The presence of chromothripsis in healthy individuals affects reproduction and is expected to substantially increase the risk of miscarriages, abortions, and severe congenital disease.	Homo sapiens	GSE65454			>=6	5	Yes
25662009	Research	WHIM syndrome	Next Generation Sequencing	Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA	McDermott DH, Gao JL, Liu Q, Siwicki M, Martens C, Jacobs P, Velez D, Yim E, Bryke CR, Hsu N, Dai Z, Marquesen MM, Stregevsky E, Kwatemaa N, Theobald N, Long Priel DA, Pittaluga S, Raffeld MA, Calvo KR, Maric I, Desmond R, Holmes KL, Kuhns DB, Balabanian 	Chromothriptic cure of WHIM syndrome	Cell	2015 Feb	Chromothripsis is a catastrophic cellular event recently described in cancer in which chromosomes undergo massive deletion and rearrangement. Here, we report a case in which chromothripsis spontaneously cured a patient with WHIM syndrome, an autosomal dominant combined immunodeficiency disease caused by gain-of-function mutation of the chemokine receptor CXCR4. In this patient, deletion of the disease allele, CXCR4(R334X), as well as 163 other genes from one copy of chromosome 2 occurred in a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) that repopulated the myeloid but not the lymphoid lineage. In competitive mouse bone marrow (BM) transplantation experiments, Cxcr4 haploinsufficiency was sufficient to confer a strong long-term engraftment advantage of donor BM over BM from either wild-type or WHIM syndrome model mice, suggesting a potential mechanism for the patient's cure. Our findings suggest that partial inactivation of CXCR4 may have general utility as a strategy to promote HSC engraftment in transplantation.	Homo sapiens				34	2	Yes
25517748	Research	Liposarcoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Cancer Genomics, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia	Garsed DW, Marshall OJ, Corbin VD, Hsu A, Di Stefano L, Schroder J, Li J, Feng ZP, Kim BW, Kowarsky M, Lansdell B, Brookwell R, Myklebost O, Meza-Zepeda L, Holloway AJ, Pedeutour F, Choo KH, Damore MA, Deans AJ, Papenfuss AT, Thomas DM	The Architecture and Evolution of Cancer Neochromosomes	Cancer Cell	2014 Nov	We isolated and analyzed, at single-nucleotide resolution, cancer-associated neochromosomes from well- and/or dedifferentiated liposarcomas. Neochromosomes, which can exceed 600 Mb in size, initially arise as circular structures following chromothripsis involving chromosome 12. The core of the neochromosome is amplified, rearranged, and corroded through hundreds of breakage-fusion-bridge cycles. Under selective pressure, amplified oncogenes are overexpressed, while coamplified passenger genes may be silenced epigenetically. New material may be captured during punctuated chromothriptic events. Centromeric corrosion leads to crisis, which is resolved through neocentromere formation or native centromere capture. Finally, amplification terminates, and the neochromosome core is stabilized in linear form by telomere capture. This study investigates the dynamic mutational processes underlying the life history of a special form of cancer mutation.	Homo sapiens				>=50	>5	Yes
25756553	Research	Uveal melanoma	Array CGH	Departments of aPathology bHuman Genetics cOphthalmology, Radboud University Medical Center dDepartment of Pathology, Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen eDepartment of Pathology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands	van Engen-van Grunsven AC, Baar MP, Pfundt R, Rijntjes J, Kusters-Vandevelde HV, Delbecq AL, Keunen JE, Klevering JB, Wesseling P, Blokx WA, Groenen PJ.	Whole-genome copy-number analysis identifies new leads for chromosomal aberrations involved in the oncogenesis and metastastic behavior of uveal melanomas.	Melanoma Res	2015 Jun	To further elucidate the genetic underpinnings of uveal melanoma (UM) and identify new markers that correlate with disease outcome, archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded enucleation specimens from 25 patients with UM and a mean follow-up of 14 years were analyzed for whole-genome copy-number alterations using OncoScan analysis. Copy-number alterations of chromosomes 1, 3, 6, and 8 were also analyzed in these tumors using multiplex ligation-dependent probe-amplification, and mutations in GNAQ, GNA11, and BAP1 were searched for by Sanger sequencing. Our study confirms the previously reported GNAQ and GNA11 mutation frequencies in UMs as well as the presence of monosomy 3 as a factor strongly indicating poor prognosis. Two cases with metastatic disease, but without monosomy of chromosome 3, showed loss of a small region in the distal part of chromosome 2p. Also, UMs leading to metastatic disease had more chromosomal aberrations than those without metastases. Three UMs lacking a GNAQ or a GNA11 mutation showed a gain of chromosome 8q; one of these cases showed extensive chromothripsis. Another case (with suspect lung metastasis) showed focal chromothripsis. Our whole-genome copy-number analysis shows that focal loss of chromosome 2p may be involved in the metastatic spread of UMs without monosomy 3; metastatic UMs carry more chromosomal aberrations than those without metastases; and chromothripsis may play a role in the oncogenesis of UMs, but does not necessarily indicate a poor prognosis. The clinical and particularly diagnostic utility of these findings needs to be corroborated in a larger set of patients with UM.	Homo sapiens				>=30	2-3	NA
25836623	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia	SNP Array	Center of Oncology and Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510230, China.	Tan L, Xu LH, Liu HB, Yang SJ	Small lymphocytic lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukemia with chromothripsis in an old woman.	Chin Med J (Engl)	2015 Apr	Cell karyotyping in patients with small lymphocytic lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukemia (SLL/CLL) is not easy to success, and small genomic lesions (<5 Mb) are not routinely detected by this method. It is likely that a complete genomic characterization of CLL requires a combination of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array profiling for comprehensive genome-wide analysis of acquired genomic copy number aberrations (aCNAs) and loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) in dominant clones, and karyotyping for detection of balanced translocations, isochromosomes, and marker chromosomes. SNP array analysis can reveal chromothripsis, a phenomenon by which regions of the cancer genome are shattered and recombined to generate frequent oscillations between the lower and the higher DNA copy number states. This study provided cytogenetic findings in a CLL/SLL patient with v-myc avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (C-MYC)-amplification by FISH, in which SNP arrays detected profound genomic upheaval due to chromothripsis that may lead to malignant transformation.	Homo sapiens				NA	2	NA
25979483	Research	Colorectal cancer	Array CGH	Center for Cancer Evolution, Medical Research Center, The Catholic University of Korea	Kim TM, Jung SH, An CH, Lee SH, Baek IP, Kim M, Park SW, Rhee JK, Lee SH, Chung YJ	Subclonal genomic architectures of primary and metastatic colorectal cancer based on intratumoral genetic heterogeneity.	Clin Cancer Res	2015 May	PURPOSE: The intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) and the evolution of genomic architectures associated with the development of distant metastases are not well understood in colorectal cancers (CRCs). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We performed multiregion biopsies of primary and liver metastatic regions from five CRCs with whole-exome sequencing and copy number profiling. RESULTS: In addition to a substantial level of genetic ITH, multiregion genetic profiling identifies the subclonal mutational architecture leading to the region-based or spatial categorization of somatic mutations and the inference of intratumoral evolutionary history of cancers. The universal mutations (those observed in all the regional biopsies) are enriched in known cancer genes such as APC and TP53 with distinct mutational spectra compared to biopsy- or region-specific mutations suggesting that major operative mutational mechanisms and their selective pressures are not constant across the metastatic progression. The phylogenies inferred from genomic data show branching evolutionary patterns where some primary biopsies are often segregated with metastastic lesions. Our analyses also revealed that copy number changes such as the chromosomal gains of c-MYC and chromothripsis can be region-specific and the potential source of genetic ITH. CONCLUSIONS: Our data shows that the genetic ITH is prevalent in CRC serving as a potential driving force to generate metastasis-initiating clones and also as a means to infer the intratumoral evolutionary history of cancers. The paucity of recurrent metastasis-clonal events suggests that CRC distant metastases may not follow a uniform course of genomic evolution, which should be considered in the genetic diagnosis and the selection of therapeutic targets for the advanced CRC.	Homo sapiens	GSE58512			>=10	2	NA
25545346	Research	Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas	Next Generation Sequencing	The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia; The Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia	Flynn A, Benn D, Clifton-Bligh R, Robinson B, Trainer AH, James P, Hogg A, Waldeck K, George J, Li J, Fox SB, Gill AJ, McArthur G, Hicks RJ, Tothill RW.	The genomic landscape of phaeochromocytoma.	J Pathol	2015 May	Phaeochromocytomas (PCCs) and paragangliomas (PGLs) are rare neural crest-derived tumours originating from adrenal chromaffin cells or extra-adrenal sympathetic and parasympathetic tissues. More than a third of PCC/PGL cases are associated with heritable syndromes involving 13 or more known genes. These genes have been broadly partitioned into two groups based on pseudo-hypoxic and receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signalling pathways. Many of these genes can also become somatically mutated, although up to one third of sporadic cases have no known genetic driver. Furthermore, little is known of the genes that co-operate with known driver genes to initiate and drive tumourigenesis. To explore the genomic landscape of PCC/PGL, we applied exome sequencing, high-density SNP-array analysis, and RNA sequencing to 36 PCCs and four functional PGL tumours. All tumours displayed low mutation frequency, in contrast to frequent large segmental copy-number alterations, aneuploidy, and evidence for chromothripsis in one case. Multi-region sampling of one benign familial PCC tumour provided evidence for the timing of mutations during tumourigenesis and ongoing clonal evolution. Thirty-one of 40 (77.5%) cases could be explained by germline or somatic mutations or structural alterations affecting known PCC/PGL genes. Deleterious somatic mutations were also identified in known tumour-suppressor genes associated with genome maintenance and epigenetic modulation. A multitude of other genes were also found mutated that are likely important for normal neuroendocrine cell function. We revisited the gene-expression subtyping of PCC/PGL by integrating published microarray data with our RNA-seq data, enabling the identification of six robust gene-expression subtypes. The majority of cases in our cohort with no identifiable driver mutation were classified into a gene-expression subtype bearing similarity to MAX mutant PCC/PGL. Our data suggest there are yet unknown PCC/PGL cancer genes that can phenocopy MAX mutant PCC/PGL tumours. This study provides new insight into the molecular diversity and genetic origins of PCC/PGL tumours.	Homo sapiens	GSE61594			>=100	3	Yes
25811670	Research	Xenograft tumor	Array CGH	Hubrecht Institute, KNAW and University Medical Center Utrecht, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands	Hermsen R, Toonen P, Kuijk E, Youssef SA, Kuiper R, van Heesch S, de Bruin A, Cuppen E, Simonis M	Lack of major genome instability in tumors of p53 null rats.	PLoS One	2015 Mar	Tumorigenesis is often associated with loss of tumor suppressor genes (such as TP53), genomic instability and telomere lengthening. Previously, we generated and characterized a rat p53 knockout model in which the homozygous rats predominantly develop hemangiosarcomas whereas the heterozygous rats mainly develop osteosarcomas. Using genome-wide analyses, we find that the tumors that arise in the heterozygous and homozygous Tp53C273X mutant animals are also different in their genomic instability profiles. While p53 was fully inactivated in both heterozygous and homozygous knockout rats, tumors from homozygous animals show very limited aneuploidy and low degrees of somatic copy number variation as compared to the tumors from heterozygous animals. In addition, complex structural rearrangements such as chromothripsis and breakage-fusion-bridge cycles were never found in tumors from homozygous animals, while these were readily detectable in tumors from heterozygous animals. Finally, we measured telomere length and telomere lengthening pathway activity and found that tumors of homozygous animals have longer telomeres but do not show clear telomerase or alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) activity differences as compared to the tumors from heterozygous animals. Taken together, our results demonstrate that host p53 status in this rat p53 knockout model has a large effect on both tumor type and genomic instability characteristics, where full loss of functional p53 is not the main driver of large-scale structural variations. Our results also suggest that chromothripsis primarily occurs under p53 heterozygous rather than p53 null conditions.	Mus musculus	GSE55895			>=20	2-3	NA
25537021	Research	Xenograft tumor	Array CGH	Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology, Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas	Zhao X, Zhao YJ, Lin Q, Yu L, Liu Z, Lindsay H, Kogiso M, Rao P, Li XN, Lu X	Cytogenetic landscape of paired neurospheres and traditional monolayer cultures in pediatric malignant brain tumors.	Neuro Oncol	2015 Jul	BACKGROUND: New therapeutic targets are needed to eliminate cancer stem cells (CSCs). We hypothesize that direct comparison of paired CSCs and nonstem tumor cells (NSTCs) will facilitate identification of primary driver chromosomal aberrations that can serve as diagnostic markers and/or therapeutic targets. METHODS: We applied spectral karyotyping and G-banding to matched pairs of neurospheres (CSC-enriched cultures) and fetal bovine serum-based monolayer cultures (enriched with NSTCs) from 16 patient-derived orthotopic xenograft mouse models, including 9 medulloblastomas (MBs) and 7 high-grade gliomas (HGGs), followed by direct comparison of their numerical and structural abnormalities. RESULTS: Chromosomal aberrations were detected in neurospheres of all 16 models, and 82.0% numerical and 82.4% structural abnormalities were maintained in their matching monolayer cultures. Among the shared abnormalities, recurrent clonal changes were identified including gain of chromosomes 18 and 7 and loss of chromosome 10/10q (5/16 models), isochromosome 17q in 2 MBs, and a new breakpoint of 13q14 in 3 HGGs. Chromothripsis-like evidence was also observed in 3 HGG pairs. Additionally, we noted 20 numerical and 15 structural aberrations that were lost from the neurospheres and found 26 numerical and 23 structural aberrations that were only present in the NSTCs. Compared with MBs, the neurosphere karyotypes of HGG were more complex, with fewer chromosomal aberrations preserved in their matching NSTCs. CONCLUSION: Self-renewing CSCs in MBs and pediatric HGGs harbor recurrent numerical and structural aberrations that were maintained in the matching monolayer cultures. These primary chromosomal changes may represent new markers for anti-CSC therapies.	Mus musculus				>=6	NA	NA
25764012	Research	Ganglioglioma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of (Neuro)Pathology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Prabowo AS, van Thuijl HF, Scheinin I, Sie D, van Essen HF, Iyer AM, Spliet WG, Ferrier CH, van Rijen PC, Veersema TJ, Thom M, Schouten-van Meeteren AY, Reijneveld JC, Ylstra B, Wesseling P, Aronica E	Landscape of chromosomal copy number aberrations in gangliogliomas and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumours.	Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol	2015 Mar	AIM: Gangliogliomas (GGs) and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumours (DNTs) represent the most common histological entities within the spectrum of glioneuronal tumours (GNTs). The wide variability of morphological features complicates histological classification, including discrimination from prognostically distinct diffuse low-grade astrocytomas (AIIs). This study was performed to increase our understanding of these tumours. METHODS: We studied chromosomal copy number aberrations (CNAs) by genome-wide sequencing in a large cohort of GNTs and linked these to comprehensive histological analysis and clinical characteristics. One hundred fourteen GNTs were studied: 50 GGs and 64 DNTs. Also, a data set of CNAs from 38 diffuse AIIs was included. RESULTS: The most frequent CNAs in both GGs and DNTs were gains at chromosomes 5 and 7, often concurrent, and gain at chromosome 6. None of the CNAs was linked to histological subtype, immunohistochemical features or to clinical characteristics. Comparison of AIIs and diffuse GNTs revealed that gain at whole chromosome 5 is only observed in GNTs. CNA patterns indicative of chromothripsis were detected in three GNTs. CONCLUSION: We conclude that GNTs with diverse morphologies share molecular features, and our findings support the need to improve classification and differential diagnosis of tumour entities within the spectrum of GNTs, as well as their distinction from other gliomas.	Homo sapiens			EGAS00001000831;EGAS00001000643	>=20	2-3	NA
25506394	Research	Uterine leiomyoma	SNP Array	Institute of Medical Genetics, University Rostock Medical Center, Ernst-Heydemann-Strasse 8, D-18057 Rostock, Germany	Holzmann C, Markowski DN, Koczan D, Kupker W, Helmke BM, Bullerdiek J	Cytogenetically normal uterine leiomyomas without MED12-mutations - a source to identify unknown mechanisms of the development of uterine smooth muscle tumors.	Mol Cytogenet	2014 Nov	BACKGROUND: Recent findings on genetic changes in uterine leiomyomas suggest these benign tumors being a heterogeneous group of diseases in terms of molecular pathogenesis with those showing karyotype alterations as well as those characterized only by cytogenetically invisible mutations of mediator subcomplex 12 (MED12). Herein, five uterine leiomyomas (UL) with an apparently normal karyotype that lacked MED12-mutations were investigated by copy number variation arrays along with their matching myometrium to search for small genomic imbalances. RESULTS: Of five tumors one showed chromothripsis-like phenomena with numerous gains and losses of small segments mainly clustered to five chromosomal regions i.e. 2p14-2pter, 2q33.1-2q37.3, 5q31.3-5qter,11q14.1-11qter, and 18p11.21-18q2.3. Apparently, these cells had escaped detection by classical cytogenetics. Histologically, the tumor presented as a cellular leiomyoma with extended hyalinization. Of the remaining four tumors, one had a small intragenic deletion of the HMGA2 gene that was lacking in the corresponding myometrium. The other three tumors did not show relevant copy number alterations at all. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the results suggest that leiomyomas with an apparently normal karyotype based on classical cytogenetics and lacking MED12 mutations represent a heterogeneous group of diseases. While the HMGA2 deletion detected in one of the tumors likely represents the driver mutation and, due to its size, has escaped detection by classical cytogenetics, the extended genomic imbalances detected in one of the other cases cannot be overlooked by this method suggesting an inability of the affected cells to divide in vitro. Of particular interest in that case is the occurrence of so-called chromothripsis or firestorms without involvement of the loci of common chromosomal rearrangements in UL, as e.g. 12q14~15 and 6p21. While chromothripsis was initially described as a hallmark of malignancy, the etiology and significance of this phenomenon in benign tumors still remain obscure. In uterine smooth muscle tumors, these changes per se do not indicate malignancy.	Homo sapiens				>=18	2	NA
25736334	Research	Dysmorphia	Array CGH	Cytogenetics Laboratory, Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program, Hamilton Health Sciences, Ontario, Canada	Wang JC, Fisker T, Sahoo T	Constitutional chromothripsis involving chromosome 19 in a child with subtle dysmorphic features.	Am J Med Genet A	2015 Apr	Chromothripsis is defined as a single event wherein tens to hundreds of chromosomal rearrangements occur in a limited number of genomic regions, although the minimum threshold for the number of breaks and regions involved in chromothripsis has not been defined.	Homo sapiens				>=10	3	NA
21215367	Research	Osteosarcoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK	Stephens PJ, Greenman CD, Fu B, Yang F, Bignell GR, Mudie LJ, Pleasance ED, Lau KW, Beare D, Stebbings LA, McLaren S, Lin ML, McBride DJ, Varela I, Nik-Zainal S, Leroy C, Jia M, Menzies A, Butler AP, Teague JW, Quail MA, Burton J, Swerdlow H, Carter NP, M	Massive Genomic Rearrangement Acquired in a Single Catastrophic Event during Cancer Development	Cell	2011 Jan	Cancer is driven by somatically acquired point mutations and chromosomal rearrangements, conventionally thought to accumulate gradually over time. Using next-generation sequencing, we characterize a phenomenon, which we term chromothripsis, whereby tens to hundreds of genomic rearrangements occur in a one-off cellular crisis. Rearrangements involving one or a few chromosomes crisscross back and forth across involved regions, generating frequent oscillations between two copy number states. These genomic hallmarks are highly improbable if rearrangements accumulate over time and instead imply that nearly all occur during a single cellular catastrophe. The stamp of chromothripsis can be seen in at least 2%-3% of all cancers, across many subtypes, and is present in ~25% of bone cancers. We find that one, or indeed more than one, cancer-causing lesion can emerge out of the genomic crisis. This phenomenon has important implications for the origins of genomic remodeling and temporal emergence of cancer.	Homo sapiens				>=50	2-3	Yes
21925314	Research	Dysmorphia	Array CGH	Department of Molecular and Human Genetics	Liu P, Erez A, Nagamani SC, Dhar SU, Kolodziejska KE, Dharmadhikari AV, Cooper ML, Wiszniewska J, Zhang F, Withers MA, Bacino CA, Campos-Acevedo LD, Delgado MR, Freedenberg D, Garnica A, Grebe TA, Hernandez-Almaguer D, Immken L, Lalani SR, McLean SD, Nort	Chromosome Catastrophes Involve Replication Mechanisms Generating Complex Genomic Rearrangements	Cell	2011 Sep	Complex genomic rearrangements (CGRs) consisting of two or more breakpoint junctions have been observed in genomic disorders. Recently, achromosome catastrophe phenomenon termed chromothripsis, in which numerous genomic rearrangements are apparently acquired in one single catastrophic event, was described in multiple cancers. Here, we show that constitutionally acquired CGRs share similarities with cancer chromothripsis. In the 17 CGR cases investigated, we observed localization and multiple copy number changes including deletions, duplications, and/or triplications, as well as extensive translocations and inversions. Genomic rearrangements involved varied in size and complexities; in one case, array comparative genomic hybridization revealed 18 copy number changes. Breakpoint sequencing identified characteristic features, including small templated insertions at breakpoints and microhomology at breakpoint junctions, which have been attributed to replicative processes. The resemblance between CGR and chromothripsis suggests similar mechanistic underpinnings. Such chromosome catastrophic events appear to reflect basic DNA metabolism operative throughout an organism's life cycle.	Homo sapiens				>=8	2-3	NA
22265402	Research	Sonic-Hedgehog medulloblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstr. 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany	Rausch T, Jones DT, Zapatka M, Stutz AM, Zichner T, Weischenfeldt J, Jager N, Remke M, Shih D, Northcott PA, Pfaff E, Tica J, Wang Q, Massimi L, Witt H, Bender S, Pleier S, Cin H, Hawkins C, Beck C, von Deimling A, Hans V, Brors B, Eils R, Scheurlen W, Bl	Genome Sequencing of Pediatric Medulloblastoma Links Catastrophic DNA Rearrangements with TP53 Mutations	Cell	2012 Jan	Genomic rearrangements are thought to occur progressively during tumor development. Recent findings, however, suggest an alternative mechanism, involving massive chromosome rearrangements in a one-step catastrophic event termed chromothripsis. We report the whole-genome sequencing-based analysis of a Sonic-Hedgehog medulloblastoma (SHH-MB) brain tumor from a patient with a germline TP53 mutation (Li-Fraumeni syndrome), uncovering massive, complex chromosome rearrangements. Integrating TP53 status with microarray and deep sequencing-based DNA rearrangement data in additional patients reveals a striking association between TP53 mutation and chromothripsis in SHH-MBs. Analysis of additional tumor entities substantiates a link between TP53 mutation and chromothripsis, and indicates a context-specific role for p53 in catastrophic DNA rearrangements. Among these, we observed a strong association between somatic TP53 mutations and chromothripsis in acute myeloid leukemia. These findings connect p53 status and chromothripsis in specific tumor types, providing a genetic basis for understanding particularly aggressive subtypes of cancer.	Homo sapiens	GSE14437;GSE32462;GSE19101;GSE23452;GSE34323;GSE34258		EGAS00001000085	>=20	2-3	Yes
22813740	Research	Congenital abnormality	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Medical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universiteitsweg 100, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands	Kloosterman WP, Tavakoli-Yaraki M, van Roosmalen MJ, van Binsbergen E, Renkens I, Duran K, Ballarati L, Vergult S, Giardino D, Hansson K, Ruivenkamp CA, Jager M, van Haeringen A, Ippel EF, Haaf T, Passarge E, Hochstenbach R, Menten B, Larizza L, Guryev V,	Constitutional Chromothripsis Rearrangements Involve Clustered Double-Stranded DNA Breaks and Nonhomologous Repair Mechanisms	Cell Rep	2012 Jun	Chromothripsis represents a novel phenomenon in the structural variation landscape of cancer genomes. Here, we analyze the genomes of ten patients with congenital disease who were preselected to carry complex chromosomal rearrangements with more than two breakpoints. The rearrangements displayed unanticipated complexity resembling chromothripsis. We find that eight of them contain hallmarks of multiple clustered double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) on one or more chromosomes. In addition, nucleotide resolution analysis of 98 breakpoint junctions indicates that break repair involves nonhomologous or microhomology-mediated end joining. We observed that these eight rearrangements are balanced or contain sporadic deletions ranging in size between a few hundred base pairs and several megabases. The two remaining complex rearrangements did not display signs of DSBs and contain duplications, indicative of rearrangement processes involving template switching. Our work provides detailed insight into the characteristics of chromothripsis and supports a role for clustered DSBs driving some constitutional chromothripsis rearrangements.	Homo sapiens			ERP001035	>=4	1-3	Yes
21628407	Research	Multiple myeloma	SNP Array	Inserm U892, Universite de Nantes, Nantes, France	Magrangeas F, Avet-Loiseau H, Munshi NC, Minvielle S	Chromothripsis identifies a rare and aggressive entity among newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients	Blood	2011 Jul	Multiple myeloma (MM) develops from a premalignant plasma cell proliferative disorder, and with time can progress to a more aggressive disease in extramedullary locations. The gradually clinical evolution is supported by clonal expansion of cells that acquire genetic lesions over years. This model of cancer evolution based on ongoing genomic instability mechanism may apply to development of most MM cases. However, in a small fraction of newly diagnosed MM who relapse quickly and finally die within 2 years, the gradual model appears to be untenable. Analysis of high resolution copy number profiles obtained using single nucleotide polymorphism array data from 764 newly diagnosed MM identified large numbers of genomic rearrangements with the hallmarks of chromothripsis in 1.3% of samples. Moreover, this catastrophic event confers a poor outcome. Because chromothripsis appears to occur in a single crisis, our results suggest that high-risk MM patients use this novel way of cancer evolution.	Homo sapiens	GSE27560			>=8	2-3	NA
23271725	Research	Melanoma	Array CGH	Genetics Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute/NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA	Hirsch D, Kemmerling R, Davis S, Camps J, Meltzer PS, Ried T, Gaiser T	Chromothripsis and Focal Copy Number Alterations Determine Poor Outcome in Malignant Melanoma	Cancer Res	2013 Mar	Genetic changes during tumorigenesis are usually acquired sequentially. However, a recent study showed that in 2% to 3% of all cancers a single catastrophic event, termed chromothripsis, can lead to massive genomic rearrangements confined to one or a few chromosomes. To explore whether the degree of genomic instability and chromothripsis influences prognosis in cancer, we retrospectively applied array-comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) to 20 malignant melanomas that showed, despite comparable conventional clinical and pathologic parameters, a profoundly different clinical course. We compared 10 patients who died of malignant melanoma 3.7 years (median, range 0.9-7.6 years) after diagnosis with 10 patients who survived malignant melanoma and had a median disease-free survival of 14.8 years (range 12.5-16.7 years; P = 0.00001). We observed a striking association between the degree of chromosomal instability, both numerical and structural, and outcome. Malignant melanomas associated with good prognosis showed only few chromosomal imbalances (mean 1.6 alterations per case), predominantly whole chromosome or chromosome arm gains and losses, whereas malignant melanomas with poor prognosis harbored significantly more chromosomal aberrations (13.9 per case; P = 0.008). Array-based CGH showed that these aberrations were mostly focal events, culminating in two cases in a pattern consistent with the phenomenon of chromothripsis, which was confirmed by paired-end sequencing. This is the first description of chromothripsis in primary malignant melanomas. Our study therefore links focal copy number alterations and chromothripsis with poor outcome in patients with malignant melanomas (P = 0.0002) and provides a genetic approach to predict outcome in malignant melanomas.	Homo sapiens				>=12	2-3	NA
22014273	Research	Colorectal cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Medical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universiteitsweg 100, Utrecht, 3584 CG, The Netherlands	Kloosterman WP, Hoogstraat M, Paling O, Tavakoli-Yaraki M, Renkens I, Vermaat JS, van Roosmalen MJ, van Lieshout S, Nijman IJ, Roessingh W, van 't Slot R, van de Belt J, Guryev V, Koudijs M, Voest E, Cuppen E	Chromothripsis is a common mechanism driving genomic rearrangements in primary and metastatic colorectal cancer	Genome Biol	2011 Oct	Structural rearrangements form a major class of somatic variation in cancer genomes. Local chromosome shattering, termed chromothripsis, is a mechanism proposed to be the cause of clustered chromosomal rearrangements and was recently described to occur in a small percentage of tumors. The significance of these clusters for tumor development or metastatic spread is largely unclear. RESULTS: We used genome-wide long mate-pair sequencing and SNP array profiling to reveal that chromothripsis is a widespread phenomenon in primary colorectal cancer and metastases. We find large and small chromothripsis events in nearly every colorectal tumor sample and show that several breakpoints of chromothripsis clusters and isolated rearrangements affect cancer genes, including NOTCH2, EXO1 and MLL3. We complemented the structural variation studies by sequencing the coding regions of a cancer exome in all colorectal tumor samples and found somatic mutations in 24 genes, including APC, KRAS, SMAD4 and PIK3CA. A pairwise comparison of somatic variations in primary and metastatic samples indicated that many chromothripsis clusters, isolated rearrangements and point mutations are exclusively present in either the primary tumor or the metastasis and may affect cancer genes in a lesion-specific manner. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that chromothripsis is a prevalent mechanism driving structural rearrangements in colorectal cancer and show that a complex interplay between point mutations, simple copy number changes and chromothripsis events drive colorectal tumor development and metastasis.	Homo sapiens	GSE32711		ERP000875	>=5	2-3	Yes
25074542	Research	Neuroendocrine carcinoma	Array CGH	Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030	Xiang DB, Wei B, Abraham SC, Huo L, Albarracin CT, Zhang H, Babiera G, Caudle AS, Akay CL, Rao P, Zhao YJ, Lu X, Wu Y	Molecular cytogenetic characterization of mammary neuroendocrine carcinoma.	Hum Pathol	2014 Sep	Primary mammary neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) is an uncommon entity that accounts for 2% to 5% of breast carcinomas. Recent reports have shown that NEC of the breast is an aggressive subtype of mammary carcinoma that is distinct from invasive ductal carcinoma, not otherwise specified, and have suggested that these tumors have a poorer prognosis than invasive ductal carcinoma, not otherwise specified. In this study, we provide the first cytogenetic characterization of mammary NEC using both conventional G-banding and spectral karyotype on a group of 7 tumors. We identified clonal chromosomal aberrations in 5 (71.4%) cases, with 4 of them showing complex karyotypes. Of these, recurrent numerical aberrations included gain of chromosome 7 (n = 2) and loss of chromosome 15 (n = 2). Recurrent clonal structural chromosomal aberrations involved chromosomes 1 (n = 3), 3 (n = 2), 6q (n = 3), and 17q (n = 3). Of the 4 (57.1%) cases with complex karyotypes, 2 showed evidence of chromothripsis, a phenomenon in which tens to hundreds of genomic rearrangements occur in a one-off cellular crisis. One of these had evidence of chromothripsis involving chromosomes 1, 6, 8, and 15. The other also had evidence of chromosome 8 chromothripsis, making this a recurrent finding shared by both cases. We also found that mammary NEC shared some cytogenetic abnormalities--such as trisomy 7 and 12--with other neuroendocrine tumors in the lung and gastrointestinal tract, suggesting trisomy 7 and 12 as potential common molecular aberrations in neuroendocrine tumors. To our knowledge, this is the first report on molecular cytogenetic characterization of mammary NEC.	Homo sapiens				>=4	NA	NA
24636338	Research	Myelodysplastic syndrome	SNP Array	Center of Oncocytogenetics, Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics, General University Hospital and First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic	Zemanova Z, Michalova K, Buryova H, Brezinova J, Kostylkova K, Bystricka D, Novakova M, Sarova I, Izakova S, Lizcova L, Ransdorfova S, Krejcik Z, Merkerova MD, Dohnalova A, Siskova M, Jonasova A, Neuwirtova R, Cermak J	Involvement of deleted chromosome 5 in complex chromosomal aberrations in newly diagnosed myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) is correlated with extremely adverse prognosis.	Leuk Res	2014 May	MDS with complex chromosomal aberrations (CCA) are characterized by short survival and a high rate of transformation to AML. A comprehensive genome-wide analysis of bone-marrow cells of 157 adults with newly diagnosed MDS and CCA revealed a large spectrum of nonrandom genomic changes related to the advanced stages of MDS. Chromosome shattering, probably resulting from chromothripsis, was found in 47% of patients. Deleted chromosome 5 was unstable and often involved in different types of cryptic unbalanced rearrangements. No true monosomy 5 was observed. Patients with CCA involving deleted chromosome 5 had an extremely poor prognosis (median overall survival, 2 months).	Homo sapiens				>=3	2-3	NA
25128687	Research	Congenital abnormality	SNP Array	Service de Genetique Medicale, Hopital Purpan, CHU Toulouse, France	Plaisancie J, Kleinfinger P, Cances C, Bazin A, Julia S, Trost D, Lohmann L, Vigouroux A	Constitutional chromoanasynthesis: description of a rare chromosomal event in a patient.	Eur J Med Genet	2014 Oct	Structural alterations in chromosomes are a frequent cause of cancers and congenital diseases. Recently, the phenomenon of chromosome crisis, consisting of a set of tens to hundreds of clustered genomic rearrangements, localized in one or a few chromosomes, was described in cancer cells under the term chromothripsis. Better knowledge and recognition of this catastrophic chromosome event has brought to light two distinct entities, chromothripsis and chromoanasynthesis. The complexity of these rearrangements and the original descriptions in tumor cells initially led to the thought that it was an acquired anomaly. In fact, a few patients have been reported with constitutional chromothripsis or chromoanasynthesis. Using microarray we identified a very complex chromosomal rearrangement in a patient who had a cytogenetically visible rearrangement of chromosome 18. The rearrangement contained more than 15 breakpoints localized on a single chromosome. Our patient displayed intellectual disability, behavioral troubles and craniofacial dysmorphism. Interestingly, the succession of duplications and triplications identified in our patient was not clustered on a single chromosomal region but spread over the entire chromosome 18. In the light of this new spectrum of chromosomal rearrangements, this report outlines the main features of these catastrophic events and discusses the underlying mechanism of the complex chromosomal rearrangement identified in our patient, which is strongly evocative of a chromoanasynthesis.	Homo sapiens				>=15	2	NA
24957271	Research	Burkitt lymphoma/leukemia	SNP Array	Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Prague, Czech Republic	Sarova I, Brezinova J, Lhotska H, Berkova A, Ransdorfova S, Zemanova Z, Soukupova J, Michalova K	Jumping-like translocation-a rare chromosomal rearrangement in a patient with Burkitt lymphoma/leukemia.	Cancer Genet	2014 May	Chromosomal translocations are acquired genetic rearrangements in human cancers. Jumping translocations are rare nonreciprocal rearrangements involving the same donor chromosome segment translocated to two or more recipient chromosomes. In this report, we describe a patient with Burkitt lymphoma/leukemia (BL) and a complex karyotype including a t(2;8)(p12;q24), copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity at 17p13.1-p13.3 and 19q13.1-q13.2, trisomy 20, and two uncommon chromosomal aberrations. The first uncommon aberration was a complex rearrangement of chromosome 15 (probably the consequence of chromothripsis) masked by an apparently balanced reciprocal translocation, t(11;15)(p11.2;q21). The second one was a special type of unbalanced vice versa jumping translocation, which involved the same acceptor chromosome arm (13q) and various donor chromosome segments. It is unclear whether both atypical rearrangements are the consequence of the TP53 alteration or whether assumed chromothripsis influenced the development of the jumping-like translocation. However, the presence of the t(11;15)(p11.2;q21) in all pathological cells suggests that it occurred in the early stage of the disease, whereas the jumping-like translocation, as an additional change, subsequently accelerated the progression of the disease.	Homo sapiens				>=2	2	NA
25011954	Research	Breast cancer	Array CGH	Department of Oncology, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, McGill University, 3755 Cote Ste-Catherine Road, Montreal, Quebec H3T-1E2, Canada	Przybytkowski E, Lenkiewicz E, Barrett MT, Klein K, Nabavi S, Greenwood CM, Basik M	Chromosome-breakage genomic instability and chromothripsis in breast cancer.	BMC Genomics	2014 Jul	BACKGROUND: Chromosomal breakage followed by faulty DNA repair leads to gene amplifications and deletions in cancers. However, the mere assessment of the extent of genomic changes, amplifications and deletions may reduce the complexity of genomic data observed by array comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH). We present here a novel approach to array CGH data analysis, which focuses on putative breakpoints responsible for rearrangements within the genome. RESULTS: We performed array comparative genomic hybridization in 29 primary tumors from high risk patients with breast cancer. The specimens were flow sorted according to ploidy to increase tumor cell purity prior to array CGH. We describe the number of chromosomal breaks as well as the patterns of breaks on individual chromosomes in each tumor. There were differences in chromosomal breakage patterns between the 3 clinical subtypes of breast cancers, although the highest density of breaks occurred at chromosome 17 in all subtypes, suggesting a particular proclivity of this chromosome for breaks. We also observed chromothripsis affecting various chromosomes in 41% of high risk breast cancers. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide a new insight into the genomic complexity of breast cancer. Genomic instability dependent on chromosomal breakage events is not stochastic, targeting some chromosomes clearly more than others. We report a much higher percentage of chromothripsis than described previously in other cancers and this suggests that massive genomic rearrangements occurring in a single catastrophic event may shape many breast cancer genomes.	Homo sapiens				>=5	2-3	NA
24509483	Research	Retinoblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Departments of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA	McEvoy J, Nagahawatte P, Finkelstein D, Richards-Yutz J, Valentine M, Ma J, Mullighan C, Song G, Chen X, Wilson M, Brennan R, Pounds S, Becksfort J, Huether R, Lu C, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Hong X, Dooling DJ, Ochoa K, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Easton J, Zhang 	RB1 gene inactivation by chromothripsis in human retinoblastoma.	Oncotarget	2014 Jan	Retinoblastoma is a rare childhood cancer of the developing retina. Most retinoblastomas initiate with biallelic inactivation of the RB1 gene through diverse mechanisms including point mutations, nucleotide insertions, deletions, loss of heterozygosity and promoter hypermethylation. Recently, a novel mechanism of retinoblastoma initiation was proposed. Gallie and colleagues discovered that a small proportion of retinoblastomas lack RB1 mutations and had MYCN amplification. In this study, we identified recurrent chromosomal, regional and focal genomic lesions in 94 primary retinoblastomas with their matched normal DNA using SNP 6.0 chips. We also analyzed the RB1 gene mutations and compared the mechanism of RB1 inactivation to the recurrent copy number variations in the retinoblastoma genome. In addition to the previously described focal amplification of MYCN and deletions in RB1 and BCOR, we also identified recurrent focal amplification of OTX2, a transcription factor required for retinal photoreceptor development. We identified 10 retinoblastomas in our cohort that lacked RB1 point mutations or indels. We performed whole genome sequencing on those 10 tumors and their corresponding germline DNA. In one of the tumors, the RB1 gene was unaltered, the MYCN gene was amplified and RB1 protein was expressed in the nuclei of the tumor cells. In addition, several tumors had complex patterns of structural variations and we identified 3 tumors with chromothripsis at the RB1 locus. This is the first report of chromothripsis as a mechanism for RB1 gene inactivation in cancer.	Homo sapiens				>=5	2-3	NA
25254125	Research	Myelodysplastic syndrome	Flow cytometry	Department of Internal Medicine, Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, NJ 07740, USA	Agrawal A, Modi A, Alagusundaramoorthy SS, Ghali W	Chromothripsis: Basis of a Concurrent Unusual Association between Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia.	Case Rep Hematol	2014 Sep	A 20 year old male was initially diagnosed suffering from Primary ciliary dyskinesia with symptoms of bronchiectasis, severe frontal, maxillary and ethmoid sinus disease. At the age of 20, the patient was also diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome requiring Bone marrow transplant due to the advanced stage at time of presentation. Primary ciliary dyskinesia and Myelodsyplastic syndrome are both rare clinical conditions found in the general population, especially in young adults. This rare combination of disorders has never been reported in literature to the best of the author's knowledge. The presence of an advanced cancer and a genetic abnormality due to two deletions occurring in two arms of the same chromosome can be explained on the base of chromothripsis. A number of evidences have been published in the literature, about multiple deletions in chromosome 5 and advanced stages of MDS being associated with chromothripsis however this is the first case report on two deletions in chromosome 7 giving rise to two different clinical entities requiring multiple modes of management.	Homo sapiens				>=4	2	NA
25144242	Research	Non Small-cell lung cancer	Array CGH	Department of Pathology, The Cancer Institute Hospital, Tokyo, Japan	Kodama T, Motoi N, Ninomiya H, Sakamoto H, Kitada K, Tsukaguchi T, Satoh Y, Nomura K, Nagano H, Ishii N, Terui Y, Hatake K, Ishikawa Y	A novel mechanism of EML4-ALK rearrangement mediated by chromothripsis in a patient-derived cell line.	J Thorac Oncol	2014 Nov	INTRODUCTION: EML4-ALK is a driver oncogene in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and has been developed into a promising molecular target for antitumor agents. Although EML4-ALK is reported to be formed by inversion of chromosome 2, other mechanisms of this gene fusion remain unknown. This study aimed to examine the mechanism of EML4-ALK rearrangement using a novel cell line with the EML4-ALK fusion gene. METHODS: An EML4-ALK-positive cell line, termed JFCR-LC649, was established from pleomorphic carcinoma, a rare subtype of NSCLC. We investigated the chromosomal aberrations using fluorescence in situ hybridization and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). Alectinib/CH5424802, a selective ALK inhibitor, was evaluated in the antitumor activity against JFCR-LC649 in vitro and in vivo xenograft model. RESULTS: We established an EML4-ALK-positive cell line, termed JFCR-LC649, derived from a patient with NSCLC and revealed that the JFCR-LC649 cells harbor variant 3 of the EML4-ALK fusion with twofold copy number gain. Interestingly, comparative genomic hybridization and metaphase-fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis showed that in addition to two normal chromosome 2, JFCR-LC649 cells contained two aberrant chromosome 2 that were fragmented and scattered. These observations provided the first evidence that EML4-ALK fusion in JFCR-LC649 cells was formed in chromosome 2 by a distinct mechanism of genomic rearrangement, termed chromothripsis. Furthermore, a selective ALK inhibitor alectinib/CH5424802 suppressed tumor growth of the JFCR-LC649 cells through inhibition of phospho-ALK in vitro and in vivo in a xenograft model. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that chromothripsis may be a mechanism of oncogenic rearrangement of EML4-ALK. In addition, alectinib was effective against EML4-ALK-positive tumors with ALK copy number gain mediated by chromothripsis.	Homo sapiens				>=50	2	NA
25161957	Research	Neuroblastoma	SNP Array	Children's Cancer Research Institute, St. Anna Kinderkrebsforschung , Vienna , Austria	Ambros IM, Brunner C, Abbasi R, Frech C, Ambros PF	Ultra-High Density SNParray in Neuroblastoma Molecular Diagnostics.	Front Oncol	2014 Aug	Neuroblastoma serves as a paradigm for applying tumor genomic data for determining patient prognosis and thus for treatment allocation. MYCN status, i.e., amplified vs. non-amplified, was one of the very first biomarkers in oncology to discriminate aggressive from less aggressive or even favorable clinical courses of neuroblastoma. However, MYCN amplification is by far not the only genetic change associated with unfavorable clinical courses. So called segmental chromosomal aberrations, (SCAs) i.e., gains or losses of chromosomal fragments, can also indicate tumor aggressiveness. The clinical use of these genomic aberrations has, however, been hampered for many years by methodical and interpretational problems. Only after reaching worldwide consensus on markers, methodology, and data interpretation, information on SCAs has recently been implemented in clinical studies. Now, a number of collaborative studies within COG, GPOH, and SIOPEN use genomic information to stratify therapy for patients with localized and metastatic disease. Recently, new types of DNA based aberrations influencing the clinical behavior of neuroblastomas have been described. Deletions or mutations of genes like ATRX and a phenomenon referred to as chromothripsis are all assumed to correlate with an unfavorable clinical behavior. However, these genomic aberrations need to be scrutinized in larger studies applying the most appropriate techniques. Single nucleotide polymorphism arrays have proven successful in deciphering genomic aberrations of cancer cells; these techniques, however, are usually not applied in the daily routine. Here, we present an ultra-high density (UHD) SNParray technique which is, because of its high specificity and sensitivity and the combined copy number and allele information, highly appropriate for the genomic diagnosis of neuroblastoma and other malignancies.	Homo sapiens				60	2	NA
25043231	Research	Congenital abnormality	Next Generation Sequencing	New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA	Macera MJ, Sobrino A, Levy B, Jobanputra V, Aggarwal V, Mills A, Esteves C, Hanscom C, Pereira S, Pillalamarri V, Ordulu Z, Morton CC, Talkowski M, Warburton D	Prenatal diagnosis of chromothripsis, with nine breaks characterized by karyotyping, FISH, microarray and whole-genome sequencing.	Prenat Diagn	2015 Mar	Detection of de novo complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs) in prenatal testing is extremely rare.	Homo sapiens				>=1	1	NA
26040972	Research	Congenital abnormality	Array CGH	Department of Genetics, Institute of Biosciences, University of Sao Paulo State, Botucatu, SP, Brazil	Gamba BF, Richieri-Costa A, Costa S, Rosenberg C, Ribeiro-Bicudo LA	Chromothripsis with at least 12 breaks at 1p36.33-p35.3 in a boy with multiple congenital anomalies.	Mol Genet Genomics	2015 Jun	Terminal deletion in the short arm of chromosome 1 results in a disorder described as 1p36 deletion syndrome. The resulting phenotype varies among patients including mental retardation, developmental delay, sensorineural hearing loss, seizures, heart defects, and distinct facies. In the present case, we performed array-comparative genomic hybridization in a boy with multiple congenital malformations presenting some features overlapping the 1p36 deletion phenotype for whom chromosomal analysis did not reveal a terminal deletion in 1p. Results showed complex chromosome rearrangements involving the 1p36.33-p35.3 region. While the mechanism of origin of these rearrangements is still unclear, chromothripsis-a single catastrophic event leading to shattering chromosomes or chromosome regions and rejoining of the segments-has been described to occur in a fraction of cancers. The presence of at least 12 clustered breaks at 1p and apparent lack of mosaicism in the present case suggests that a single event like chromothripsis occurred. This finding suggests that chromothripsis is responsible for some constitutive complex chromosome rearrangements.	Homo sapiens				>=12	3	NA
24553141	Research	Ependymoma	Next Generation Sequencing	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, USA	Parker M, Mohankumar KM, Punchihewa C, Weinlich R, Dalton JD, Li Y, Lee R, Tatevossian RG, Phoenix TN, Thiruvenkatam R, White E, Tang B, Orisme W, Gupta K, Rusch M, Chen X, Li Y, Nagahawhatte P, Hedlund E, Finkelstein D, Wu G, Shurtleff S, Easton J, Boggs	C11orf95-RELA fusions drive oncogenic NF-kappaB signalling in ependymoma.	Nature	2014 Feb	Members of the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) family of transcriptional regulators are central mediators of the cellular inflammatory response. Although constitutive NF-kappaB signalling is present in most human tumours, mutations in pathway members are rare, complicating efforts to understand and block aberrant NF-kappaB activity in cancer. Here we show that more than two-thirds of supratentorial ependymomas contain oncogenic fusions between RELA, the principal effector of canonical NF-kappaB signalling, and an uncharacterized gene, C11orf95. In each case, C11orf95-RELA fusions resulted from chromothripsis involving chromosome 11q13.1. C11orf95-RELA fusion proteins translocated spontaneously to the nucleus to activate NF-kappaB target genes, and rapidly transformed neural stem cells--the cell of origin of ependymoma--to form these tumours in mice. Our data identify a highly recurrent genetic alteration of RELA in human cancer, and the C11orf95-RELA fusion protein as a potential therapeutic target in supratentorial ependymoma.	Homo sapiens			EGAS00001000254	>=4	2-3	Yes
24670643	Research	Acute lymphoblastic leukemia	Next Generation Sequencing	Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK	Li Y, Schwab C, Ryan SL, Papaemmanuil E, Robinson HM, Jacobs P, Moorman AV, Dyer S, Borrow J, Griffiths M, Heerema NA, Carroll AJ, Talley P, Bown N, Telford N, Ross FM, Gaunt L, McNally RJ, Young BD, Sinclair P, Rand V, Teixeira MR, Joseph O, Robinson B, 	Constitutional and somatic rearrangement of chromosome 21 in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.	Nature	2014 Apr	Changes in gene dosage are a major driver of cancer, known to be caused by a finite, but increasingly well annotated, repertoire of mutational mechanisms. This can potentially generate correlated copy-number alterations across hundreds of linked genes, as exemplified by the 2% of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) with recurrent amplification of megabase regions of chromosome 21 (iAMP21). We used genomic, cytogenetic and transcriptional analysis, coupled with novel bioinformatic approaches, to reconstruct the evolution of iAMP21 ALL. Here we show that individuals born with the rare constitutional Robertsonian translocation between chromosomes 15 and 21, rob(15;21)(q10;q10)c, have approximately 2,700-fold increased risk of developing iAMP21 ALL compared to the general population. In such cases, amplification is initiated by a chromothripsis event involving both sister chromatids of the Robertsonian chromosome, a novel mechanism for cancer predisposition. In sporadic iAMP21, breakage-fusion-bridge cycles are typically the initiating event, often followed by chromothripsis. In both sporadic and rob(15;21)c-associated iAMP21, the final stages frequently involve duplications of the entire abnormal chromosome. The end-product is a derivative of chromosome 21 or the rob(15;21)c chromosome with gene dosage optimized for leukaemic potential, showing constrained copy-number levels over multiple linked genes. Thus, dicentric chromosomes may be an important precipitant of chromothripsis, as we show rob(15;21)c to be constitutionally dicentric and breakage-fusion-bridge cycles generate dicentric chromosomes somatically. Furthermore, our data illustrate that several cancer-specific mutational processes, applied sequentially, can coordinate to fashion copy-number profiles over large genomic scales, incrementally refining the fitness benefits of aggregated gene dosage changes.	Homo sapiens			EGAD00001000658	>=5	3-8	Yes
25351503	Research	Esophageal adenocarcinoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Queensland Centre for Medical Genomics, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia	Nones K, Waddell N, Wayte N, Patch AM, Bailey P, Newell F, Holmes O, Fink JL, Quinn MC, Tang YH, Lampe G, Quek K, Loffler KA, Manning S, Idrisoglu S, Miller D, Xu Q, Waddell N, Wilson PJ, Bruxner TJ, Christ AN, Harliwong I, Nourse C, Nourbakhsh E, Anderso	Genomic catastrophes frequently arise in esophageal adenocarcinoma and drive tumorigenesis.	Nat Commun	2014 Oct	Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) incidence is rapidly increasing in Western countries. A better understanding of EAC underpins efforts to improve early detection and treatment outcomes. While large EAC exome sequencing efforts to date have found recurrent loss-of-function mutations, oncogenic driving events have been underrepresented. Here we use a combination of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and single-nucleotide polymorphism-array profiling to show that genomic catastrophes are frequent in EAC, with almost a third (32%, n=40/123) undergoing chromothriptic events. WGS of 22 EAC cases show that catastrophes may lead to oncogene amplification through chromothripsis-derived double-minute chromosome formation (MYC and MDM2) or breakage-fusion-bridge (KRAS, MDM2 and RFC3). Telomere shortening is more prominent in EACs bearing localized complex rearrangements. Mutational signature analysis also confirms that extreme genomic instability in EAC can be driven by somatic BRCA2 mutations. These findings suggest that genomic catastrophes have a significant role in the malignant transformation of EAC.	Homo sapiens			EGAS00001000750	>=30	2-4	NA
23410887	Research	Non Small-cell lung cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, USA	Malhotra A, Lindberg M, Faust GG, Leibowitz ML, Clark RA, Layer RM, Quinlan AR, Hall IM	Breakpoint profiling of 64 cancer genomes reveals numerous complex rearrangements spawned by homology-independent mechanisms	Genome Research	2013 May	Tumor genomes are generally thought to evolve through a gradual accumulation of mutations, but the observation that extraordinarily complex rearrangements can arise through single mutational events suggests that evolution may be accelerated by punctuated changes in genome architecture. To assess the prevalence and origins of complex genomic rearrangements (CGRs), we mapped 6179 somatic structural variation breakpoints in 64 cancer genomes from seven tumor types and screened for clusters of three or more interconnected breakpoints. We find that complex breakpoint clusters are extremely common: 154 clusters comprise 25% of all somatic breakpoints, and 75% of tumors exhibit at least one complex cluster. Based on copy number state profiling, 63% of breakpoint clusters are consistent with being CGRs that arose through a single mutational event. CGRs have diverse architectures including focal breakpoint clusters, large-scale rearrangements joining clusters from one or more chromosomes, and staggeringly complex chromothripsis events. Notably, chromothripsis has a significantly higher incidence in glioblastoma samples (39%) relative to other tumor types (9%). Chromothripsis breakpoints also show significantly elevated intra-tumor allele frequencies relative to simple SVs, which indicates that they arise early during tumorigenesis or confer selective advantage. Finally, assembly and analysis of 4002 somatic and 6982 germline breakpoint sequences reveal that somatic breakpoints show significantly less microhomology and fewer templated insertions than germline breakpoints, and this effect is stronger at CGRs than at simple variants. These results are inconsistent with replication-based models of CGR genesis and strongly argue that nonhomologous repair of concurrently arising DNA double-strand breaks is the predominant mechanism underlying complex cancer genome rearrangements.	Homo sapiens				>=10	1-3	Yes
21349919	Research	Congenital abnormality	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Medical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universiteitsweg 100, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands	Kloosterman WP, Guryev V, van Roosmalen M, Duran KJ, de Bruijn E, Bakker SC, Letteboer T, van Nesselrooij B, Hochstenbach R, Poot M, Cuppen E	Chromothripsis as a mechanism driving complex de novo structural rearrangements in the germline	Human Molecular Genetics	2011 May	A variety of mutational mechanisms shape the dynamic architecture of human genomes and occasionally result in congenital defects and disease. Here, we used genome-wide long mate-pair sequencing to systematically screen for inherited and de novo structural variation in a trio including a child with severe congenital abnormalities. We identified 4321 inherited structural variants and 17 de novo rearrangements. We characterized the de novo structural changes to the base-pair level revealing a complex series of balanced inter- and intra-chromosomal rearrangements consisting of 12 breakpoints involving chromosomes 1, 4 and 10. Detailed inspection of breakpoint regions indicated that a series of simultaneous double-stranded DNA breaks caused local shattering of chromosomes. Fusion of the resulting chromosomal fragments involved non-homologous end joining, since junction points displayed limited or no homology and small insertions and deletions. The pattern of random joining of chromosomal fragments that we observe here strongly resembles the somatic rearrangement patterns--termed chromothripsis--that have recently been described in deranged cancer cells. We conclude that a similar mechanism may also drive the formation of de novo structural variation in the germline.	Homo sapiens				>=2	1	Yes
22553170	Research	Prostate cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Vancouver Prostate Centre and Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada	Lapuk AV, Wu C, Wyatt AW, McPherson A, McConeghy BJ, Brahmbhatt S, Mo F, Zoubeidi A, Anderson S, Bell RH, Haegert A, Shukin R, Wang Y, Fazli L, Hurtado-Coll A, Jones EC, Hach F, Hormozdiari F, Hajirasouliha I, Boutros PC, Bristow RG, Zhao Y, Marra MA, Fanjul A, Maher CA, Chinnaiyan AM, Rubin MA, Beltran H, Sahinalp SC, Gleave ME, Volik SV, Collins CC	From sequence to molecular pathology, and a mechanism driving the neuroendocrine phenotype in prostate cancer	Journal of Pathology	2012 Jul	The current paradigm of cancer care relies on predictive nomograms which integrate detailed histopathology with clinical data. However, when predictions fail, the consequences for patients are often catastrophic, especially in prostate cancer where nomograms influence the decision to therapeutically intervene. We hypothesized that the high dimensional data afforded by massively parallel sequencing (MPS) is not only capable of providing biological insights, but may aid molecular pathology of prostate tumours. We assembled a cohort of six patients with high-risk disease, and performed deep RNA and shallow DNA sequencing in primary tumours and matched metastases where available. Our analysis identified copy number abnormalities, accurately profiled gene expression levels, and detected both differential splicing and expressed fusion genes. We revealed occult and potentially dormant metastases, unambiguously supporting the patients' clinical history, and implicated the REST transcriptional complex in the development of neuroendocrine prostate cancer, validating this finding in a large independent cohort. We massively expand on the number of novel fusion genes described in prostate cancer; provide fresh evidence for the growing link between fusion gene aetiology and gene expression profiles; and show the utility of fusion genes for molecular pathology. Finally, we identified chromothripsis in a patient with chronic prostatitis. Our results provide a strong foundation for further development of MPS-based molecular pathology.	Homo sapiens				>=100	3	Yes
23930239	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia	SNP Array	Cancer Biology Program and Clinical Cytogenomics Laboratory, Fox Chase Cancer Center, 333 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA	Jianming Pei, Suresh C. Jhanwar, Joseph R. Testa	Chromothripsis in a case of TP53-deficient chronic lymphocytic leukemia	Leukemia Research Reports	2012 Nov	We describe genomic findings in a case of CLL with del(17p13.1) by FISH, in which SNP array analysis revealed chromothripsis, a phenomenon by which regions of the cancer genome are shattered and recombined to generate frequent oscillations between two DNA copy number states.The findings illustrate the value of SNP arrays for precise whole genome profiling in CLL and for the detection of alterations that would be overlooked with a standard FISH panel. This second report of chromothripsis in CLL indicates that this phenomenon is a recurrent change in this disease.	Homo sapiens				>=6	2	NA
22367537	Research	Neuroblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Oncogenomics, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Jan J. Molenaar, JanKoster, Danny A. Zwijnenburg, Peter van Sluis, Linda J. Valentijn, Ida van der Ploeg, Mohamed Hamdi, Johan van Nes, Bart A. Westerman, Jennemiek van Arkel, Marli E. Ebus, Franciska Haneveld, Arjan Lakeman, Linda Schild, Piet Molenaar, Peter Stroeken, Max M. van Noesel, Ingrid Øra,, Evan E. Santo, Huib N. Caron, Ellen M. Westerhout, Rogier Versteeg 	Sequencing of neuroblastoma identifies chromothripsis and defects in neuritogenesis genes	Nature	2012 Mar	Neuroblastoma is a childhood tumour of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. The pathogenesis has for a long time been quite enigmatic, as only very few gene defects were identified in this often lethal tumour. Frequently detected gene alterations are limited to MYCN amplification (20%) and ALK activations (7%). Here we present a whole-genome sequence analysis of 87 neuroblastoma of all stages. Few recurrent amino-acid-changing mutations were found. In contrast, analysis of structural defects identified a local shredding of chromosomes, known as chromothripsis, in 18% of high-stage neuroblastoma. These tumours are associated with a poor outcome. Structural alterations recurrently affected ODZ3, PTPRD and CSMD1, which are involved in neuronal growth cone stabilization. In addition, ATRX, TIAM1 and a series of regulators of the Rac/Rho pathway were mutated, further implicating defects in neuritogenesis in neuroblastoma. Most tumours with defects in these genes were aggressive high-stage neuroblastomas, but did not carry MYCN amplifications. The genomic landscape of neuroblastoma therefore reveals two novel molecular defects, chromothripsis and neuritogenesis gene alterations, which frequently occur in high-risk tumours.	Homo sapiens			EGAS00001000222	>=4	2-3	Yes
22832581	Research	Medulloblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Developmental & Stem Cell Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children,101 College Street, TMDT-11-401M, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada.	Northcott PA, Shih DJ, Peacock J, Garzia L, Morrissy AS, Zichner T, Stutz AM, Korshunov A, Reimand J, Schumacher SE, Beroukhim R, Ellison DW, Marshall CR, Lionel AC, Mack S, Dubuc A, Yao Y, Ramaswamy V, Luu B, Rolider A, Cavalli FM, Wang X, Remke M, Wu X, Chiu RY, Chu A, Chuah E, Corbett RD, Hoad GR, Jackman SD, Li Y, Lo A, Mungall KL, Nip KM, Qian JQ, Raymond AG, Thiessen NT, Varhol RJ, Birol I, Moore RA, Mungall AJ, Holt R, Kawauchi D, Roussel MF, Kool M, Jones DT, Witt H, Fernandez-L A, Kenney AM, Wechsler-Reya RJ, Dirks P, Aviv T, Grajkowska WA, Perek-Polnik M, Haberler CC, Delattre O, Reynaud SS, Doz FF, Pernet-Fattet SS, Cho BK, Kim SK, Wang KC, Scheurlen W, Eberhart CG, Fevre-Montange M, Jouvet A, Pollack IF, Fan X, Muraszko KM, Gillespie GY, Di Rocco C, Massimi L, Michiels EM, Kloosterhof NK, French PJ, Kros JM, Olson JM, Ellenbogen RG, Zitterbart K, Kren L, Thompson RC, Cooper MK, Lach B, McLendon RE, Bigner DD, Fontebasso A, Albrecht S, Jabado N, Lindsey JC, Bailey S, Gupta N, Weiss WA, Bognar L, Klekner A, Van Meter TE, Kumabe T, Tominaga T, Elbabaa SK, Leonard JR, Rubin JB, Liau LM, Van Meir EG, Fouladi M, Nakamura H, Cinalli G, Garami M, Hauser P, Saad AG, Iolascon A, Jung S, Carlotti CG, Vibhakar R, Ra YS, Robinson S, Zollo M, Faria CC, Chan JA, Levy ML, Sorensen PH, Meyerson M, Pomeroy SL, Cho YJ, Bader GD, Tabori U, Hawkins CE, Bouffet E, Scherer SW, Rutka JT, Malkin D, Clifford SC, Jones SJ, Korbel JO, Pfister SM, Marra MA, Taylor MD	Subgroup-specific structural variation across 1,000 medulloblastoma genomes	Nature	2012 Aug	Medulloblastoma, the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour, is currently treated with nonspecific cytotoxic therapies including surgery, whole-brain radiation, and aggressive chemotherapy. As medulloblastoma exhibits marked intertumoural heterogeneity, with at least four distinct molecular variants, previous attempts to identify targets for therapy have been underpowered because of small samples sizes. Here we report somatic copy number aberrations (SCNAs) in 1,087 unique medulloblastomas. SCNAs are common in medulloblastoma, and are predominantly subgroup-enriched. The most common region of focal copy number gain is a tandem duplication of SNCAIP, a gene associated with Parkinson's disease, which is exquisitely restricted to Group 4a. Recurrent translocations of PVT1, including PVT1-MYC and PVT1-NDRG1, that arise through chromothripsis are restricted to Group 3. Numerous targetable SCNAs, including recurrent events targeting TGF-beta signalling in Group 3, and NF-kB signalling in Group 4, suggest future avenues for rational, targeted therapy. Subgroup-specific structural variation across 1,000 medulloblastoma genomes.	Homo sapiens	GSE37385		EGAD00001000158	>=20	2-4	NA
22927308	Research	Prostate cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Vancouver Prostate Centre and Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada	Wu C, Wyatt AW, McPherson A, Lin D, McConeghy BJ, Mo F, Shukin R, Lapuk AV, Jones SJ, Zhao Y, Marra MA, Gleave ME, Volik SV, Wang Y, Sahinalp SC, Collins CC	Poly-gene fusion transcripts and chromothripsis in prostate cancer.	Genes Chromosomes Cancer	2012 Dec	Complex genome rearrangements are frequently observed in cancer but their impact on tumor molecular biology is largely unknown. Recent studies have identified a new phenomenon involving the simultaneous generation of tens to hundreds of genomic rearrangements, called chromothripsis. To understand the molecular consequences of these events, we sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of two prostate tumors exhibiting evidence of chromothripsis. We identified several complex fusion transcripts, each containing sequence from three different genes, originating from different parts of the genome. One such poly-gene fusion transcript appeared to be expressed from a chain of small genomic fragments. Furthermore, we detected poly-gene fusion transcripts in the prostate cancer cell line LNCaP, suggesting they may represent a common phenomenon. Finally in one tumor with chromothripsis, we identified multiple mutations in the p53 signaling pathway, expanding on recent work associating aberrant DNA damage response mechanisms with chromothripsis. Overall, our data show that chromothripsis can manifest as massively rearranged transcriptomes. The implication that multigenic changes can give rise to poly-gene fusion transcripts is potentially of great significance to cancer genetics.	Homo sapiens				>=8	2	NA
23334667	Research	Meningioma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Brastianos PK, Horowitz PM, Santagata S, Jones RT, McKenna A, Getz G, Ligon KL, Palescandolo E, Van Hummelen P, Ducar MD, Raza A, Sunkavalli A, Macconaill LE, Stemmer-Rachamimov AO, Louis DN, Hahn WC, Dunn IF, Beroukhim R	Genomic sequencing of meningiomas identifies oncogenic SMO and AKT1 mutations.	Nat Genet	2013 Mar	Meningiomas are the most common primary nervous system tumor. The tumor suppressor NF2 is disrupted in approximately half of all meningiomas, but the complete spectrum of genetic changes remains undefined. We performed whole-genome or whole-exome sequencing on 17 meningiomas and focused sequencing on an additional 48 tumors to identify and validate somatic genetic alterations. Most meningiomas had simple genomes, with fewer mutations, rearrangements and copy-number alterations than reported in other tumors in adults. However, several meningiomas harbored more complex patterns of copy-number changes and rearrangements, including one tumor with chromothripsis. We confirmed focal NF2 inactivation in 43% of tumors and found alterations in epigenetic modifiers in an additional 8% of tumors. A subset of meningiomas lacking NF2 alterations harbored recurrent oncogenic mutations in AKT1 (p.Glu17Lys) and SMO (p.Trp535Leu) and exhibited immunohistochemical evidence of activation of these pathways. These mutations were present in therapeutically challenging tumors of the skull base and higher grade. These results begin to define the spectrum of genetic alterations in meningiomas and identify potential therapeutic targets.	Homo sapiens		phs000552		84	1	Yes
22388000	Research	Germline	Next Generation Sequencing	Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Chiang C, Jacobsen JC, Ernst C, Hanscom C, Heilbut A, Blumenthal I, Mills RE, Kirby A, Lindgren AM, Rudiger SR, McLaughlan CJ, Bawden CS, Reid SJ, Faull RL, Snell RG, Hall IM, Shen Y, Ohsumi TK, Borowsky ML, Daly MJ, Lee C, Morton CC, MacDonald ME, Gusella JF, Talkowski ME	Complex reorganization and predominant non-homologous repair following chromosomal breakage in karyotypically balanced germline rearrangements and transgenic integration.	Nat Genet	2012 Mar	We defined the genetic landscape of balanced chromosomal rearrangements at nucleotide resolution by sequencing 141 breakpoints from cytogenetically interpreted translocations and inversions. We confirm that the recently described phenomenon of 'chromothripsis' (massive chromosomal shattering and reorganization) is not unique to cancer cells but also occurs in the germline, where it can resolve to a relatively balanced state with frequent inversions. We detected a high incidence of complex rearrangements (19.2%) and substantially less reliance on microhomology (31%) than previously observed in benign copy-number variants (CNVs). We compared these results to experimentally generated DNA breakage-repair by sequencing seven transgenic animals, revealing extensive rearrangement of the transgene and host genome with similar complexity to human germline alterations. Inversion was the most common rearrangement, suggesting that a combined mechanism involving template switching and non-homologous repair mediates the formation of balanced complex rearrangements that are viable, stably replicated and transmitted unaltered to subsequent generations.	Homo sapiens				>=4	1	Yes
22608083	Research	Breast cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK	Nik-Zainal S, Van Loo P, Wedge DC, Alexandrov LB, Greenman CD, Lau KW, Raine K, Jones D, Marshall J, Ramakrishna M, Shlien A, Cooke SL, Hinton J, Menzies A, Stebbings LA, Leroy C, Jia M, Rance R, Mudie LJ, Gamble SJ, Stephens PJ, McLaren S, Tarpey PS, Papaemmanuil E, Davies HR, Varela I, McBride DJ, Bignell GR, Leung K, Butler AP, Teague JW, Martin S, Jonsson G, Mariani O, Boyault S, Miron P, Fatima A, Langerod A, Aparicio SA, Tutt A, Sieuwerts AM, Borg A, Thomas G, Salomon AV, Richardson AL, Borresen-Dale AL, Futreal PA, Stratton MR, Campbell PJ; Breast Cancer Working Group of the International Cancer Genome Consortium	The life history of 21 breast cancers	Cell	2012 May	Cancer evolves dynamically as clonal expansions supersede one another driven by shifting selective pressures, mutational processes, and disrupted cancer genes. These processes mark the genome, such that a cancer's life history is encrypted in the somatic mutations present. We developed algorithms to decipher this narrative and applied them to 21 breast cancers. Mutational processes evolve across a cancer's lifespan, with many emerging late but contributing extensive genetic variation. Subclonal diversification is prominent, and most mutations are found in just a fraction of tumor cells. Every tumor has a dominant subclonal lineage, representing more than 50% of tumor cells. Minimal expansion of these subclones occurs until many hundreds to thousands of mutations have accumulated, implying the existence of long-lived, quiescent cell lineages capable of substantial proliferation upon acquisition of enabling genomic changes. Expansion of the dominant subclone to an appreciable mass may therefore represent the final rate-limiting step in a breast cancer's development, triggering diagnosis.	Homo sapiens				>=4	2	Yes
22608084	Research	Breast cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK	Nik-Zainal S, Alexandrov LB, Wedge DC, Van Loo P, Greenman CD, Raine K, Jones D, Hinton J, Marshall J, Stebbings LA, Menzies A, Martin S, Leung K, Chen L, Leroy C, Ramakrishna M, Rance R, Lau KW, Mudie LJ, Varela I, McBride DJ, Bignell GR, Cooke SL, Shlien A, Gamble J, Whitmore I, Maddison M, Tarpey PS, Davies HR, Papaemmanuil E, Stephens PJ, McLaren S, Butler AP, Teague JW, Jonsson G, Garber JE, Silver D, Miron P, Fatima A, Boyault S, Langerod A, Tutt A, Martens JW, Aparicio SA, Borg A, Salomon AV, Thomas G, Borresen-Dale AL, Richardson AL, Neuberger MS, Futreal PA, Campbell PJ, Stratton MR; Breast Cancer Working Group of the International Cancer Genome Consortium	Mutational processes molding the genomes of 21 breast cancers	Cell	2012 May	All cancers carry somatic mutations. The patterns of mutation in cancer genomes reflect the DNA damage and repair processes to which cancer cells and their precursors have been exposed. To explore these mechanisms further, we generated catalogs of somatic mutation from 21 breast cancers and applied mathematical methods to extract mutational signatures of the underlying processes. Multiple distinct single- and double-nucleotide substitution signatures were discernible. Cancers with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations exhibited a characteristic combination of substitution mutation signatures and a distinctive profile of deletions. Complex relationships between somatic mutation prevalence and transcription were detected. A remarkable phenomenon of localized hypermutation, termed kataegis, was observed. Regions of kataegis differed between cancers but usually colocalized with somatic rearrangements. Base substitutions in these regions were almost exclusively of cytosine at TpC dinucleotides. The mechanisms underlying most of these mutational signatures are unknown. However, a role for the APOBEC family of cytidine deaminases is proposed.	Homo sapiens				>=4	2	Yes
22980976	Research	Non Small-cell lung cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA	Govindan R, Ding L, Griffith M, Subramanian J, Dees ND, Kanchi KL, Maher CA, Fulton R, Fulton L, Wallis J, Chen K, Walker J, McDonald S, Bose R, Ornitz D, Xiong D, You M, Dooling DJ, Watson M, Mardis ER, Wilson RK	Genomic landscape of non-small cell lung cancer in smokers and never-smokers	Cell	2012 Sep	We report the results of whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing of tumor and adjacent normal tissue samples from 17 patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). We identified 3,726 point mutations and more than 90 indels in the coding sequence, with an average mutation frequency more than 10-fold higher in smokers than in never-smokers. Novel alterations in genes involved in chromatin modification and DNA repair pathways were identified, along with DACH1, CFTR, RELN, ABCB5, and HGF. Deep digital sequencing revealed diverse clonality patterns in both never-smokers and smokers. All validated EFGR and KRAS mutations were present in the founder clones, suggesting possible roles in cancer initiation. Analysis revealed 14 fusions, including ROS1 and ALK, as well as novel metabolic enzymes. Cell-cycle and JAK-STAT pathways are significantly altered in lung cancer, along with perturbations in 54 genes that are potentially targetable with currently available drugs.	Homo sapiens				>=4	3	NA
23622249	Research	Prostate cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA	Baca SC, Prandi D, Lawrence MS, Mosquera JM, Romanel A, Drier Y, Park K, Kitabayashi N, MacDonald TY, Ghandi M, Van Allen E, Kryukov GV, Sboner A, Theurillat JP, Soong TD, Nickerson E, Auclair D, Tewari A, Beltran H, Onofrio RC, Boysen G, Guiducci C, Barbieri CE, Cibulskis K, Sivachenko A, Carter SL, Saksena G, Voet D, Ramos AH, Winckler W, Cipicchio M, Ardlie K, Kantoff PW, Berger MF, Gabriel SB, Golub TR, Meyerson M, Lander ES, Elemento O, Getz G, Demichelis F, Rubin MA, Garraway LA	Punctuated evolution of prostate cancer genomes	Cell	2013 Apr	The analysis of exonic DNA from prostate cancers has identified recurrently mutated genes, but the spectrum of genome-wide alterations has not been profiled extensively in this disease. We sequenced the genomes of 57 prostate tumors and matched normal tissues to characterize somatic alterations and to study how they accumulate during oncogenesis and progression. By modeling the genesis of genomic rearrangements, we identified abundant DNA translocations and deletions that arise in a highly interdependent manner. This phenomenon, which we term chromoplexy, frequently accounts for the dysregulation of prostate cancer genes and appears to disrupt multiple cancer genes coordinately. Our modeling suggests that chromoplexy may induce considerable genomic derangement over relatively few events in prostate cancer and other neoplasms, supporting a model of punctuated cancer evolution. By characterizing the clonal hierarchy of genomic lesions in prostate tumors, we charted a path of oncogenic events along which chromoplexy may drive prostate carcinogenesis.	Homo sapiens		phs000447		>=6	2	Yes
23940299	Methodology	Glioblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Five3 Genomics, LLC, Santa Cruz, CA, 9506	Sanborn JZ, Salama SR, Grifford M, Brennan CW, Mikkelsen T, Jhanwar S, Katzman S, Chin L, Haussler D	Double minute chromosomes in glioblastoma multiforme are revealed by precise reconstruction of oncogenic amplicons	Cancer Research	2013 Oct 	DNA sequencing offers a powerful tool in oncology based on the precise definition of structural rearrangements and copy number in tumor genomes. Here, we describe the development of methods to compute copy number and detect structural variants to locally reconstruct highly rearranged regions of the tumor genome with high precision from standard, short-read, paired-end sequencing datasets. We find that circular assemblies are the most parsimonious explanation for a set of highly amplified tumor regions in a subset of glioblastoma multiforme samples sequenced by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) consortium, revealing evidence for double minute chromosomes in these tumors. Further, we find that some samples harbor multiple circular amplicons and, in some cases, further rearrangements occurred after the initial amplicon-generating event. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis offered an initial confirmation of the presence of double minute chromosomes. Gene content in these assemblies helps identify likely driver oncogenes for these amplicons. RNA-seq data available for one double minute chromosome offered additional support for our local tumor genome assemblies, and identified the birth of a novel exon made possible through rearranged sequences present in the double minute chromosomes. Our method was also useful for analysis of a larger set of glioblastoma multiforme tumors for which exome sequencing data are available, finding evidence for oncogenic double minute chromosomes in more than 20% of clinical specimens examined, a frequency consistent with previous estimates.	Homo sapiens				>=30	2	Yes
22926521	Research	Bladder cancer	SNP Array	Department of Molecular Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby, Aarhus N, Denmark	Schepeler T, Lamy P, Hvidberg V, Laurberg JR, Fristrup N, Reinert T, Bartkova J, Tropia L, Bartek J, Halazonetis TD, Pan CC, Borre M, Dyrskjot L, Orntoft TF	A high resolution genomic portrait of bladder cancer: correlation between genomic aberrations and the DNA damage response	Oncogene	2013 Aug 	One major challenge in cancer research is to understand the complex interplay between the DNA damage response (DDR), genomic integrity, and tumor development. To address these issues, we analyzed 43 bladder tumor genomes from 22 patients using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, and tissue expression of multiple DDR proteins, including Timeless and its interaction partner Tipin. The SNP profiles confirmed and extended known copy number alterations (CNAs) at high resolution, showed clustering of CNAs at nine common fragile sites, and revealed that most metachronous tumors were clonally related. The occurrence of many novel uniparental disomy regions (UPDs) was of potential functional importance in some tumors because UPDs spanned mutated FGFR3 and PIK3CA alleles, and also homozygous deletion of the CDKN2A tumor suppressor locus. The DDR signaling as evaluated by phospho-epitope-specific antibodies against Ser139-phosphorylated H2A histone family member X (gama-H2AX), ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), and ATM- and Rad3-related (ATR) was commonly activated in tumors with both moderate and high extent of accumulated genomic aberrations, the latter tumors showing a more frequent loss of ATM expression. Strikingly, the tumor genomes exhibiting the most complex alterations were associated with a high Ki67-proliferation index, abundant Timeless but not Tipin expression, aberrant p53 expression, and homozygous CDKN2A deletions. Of clinical relevance, evaluation of a tissue microarray (TMA; n=319) showed that abundant Timeless expression was associated with risk of progression to muscle-invasive disease (P<0.0005; hazard ratio, 2.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.6-3.8) and higher T stage (P<0.05). Univariate analysis confirmed this association (P=0.006) in an independent cohort (n=241) but statistical significance was not reached in a multivariate model. Overall, our results are consistent with DDR activation preceding the accumulation of genomic aberrations. Tumors with extensive genomic rearrangements were associated with inactivation of CDKN2A, excessive proliferation, and robust Timeless expression, the latter also correlating with the risk of disease progression. Moreover, we provide evidence to suggest that UPDs likely contribute to bladder tumorigenesis. 	Homo sapiens				>=8	2	NA
23972288	Methodology	Breast cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, Texas 77030, USA	Chen K, Navin NE, Wang Y, Schmidt HK, Wallis JW, Niu B, Fan X, Zhao H, McLellan MD, Hoadley KA, Mardis ER, Ley TJ, Perou CM, Wilson RK, Ding L	BreakTrans: uncovering the genomic architecture of gene fusions	Genome Biology	2013 Aug	Producing gene fusions through genomic structural rearrangements is a major mechanism for tumor evolution. Therefore, accurately detecting gene fusions and the originating rearrangements is of great importance for personalized cancer diagnosis and targeted therapy. We present a tool, BreakTrans, that systematically maps predicted gene fusions to structural rearrangements. Thus, BreakTrans not only validates both types of predictions, but also provides mechanistic interpretations. BreakTrans effectively validates known fusions and discovers novel events in a breast cancer cell line. Applying BreakTrans to 43 breast cancer samples in The Cancer Genome Atlas identifies 90 genomically validated gene fusions. BreakTrans is available at http://bioinformatics.mdanderson.org/main/BreakTrans. 	Homo sapiens		phs000178		>=50	2	NA
24055055	Research	Breast cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Section of Breast Oncology, Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA	Li S, Shen D, Shao J, Crowder R, Liu W, Prat A, He X, Liu S, Hoog J, Lu C, Ding L, Griffith OL, Miller C, Larson D, Fulton RS, Harrison M, Mooney T, McMichael JF, Luo J, Tao Y, Goncalves R, Schlosberg C, Hiken JF, Saied L, Sanchez C, Giuntoli T, Bumb C, Cooper C, Kitchens RT, Lin A, Phommaly C, Davies SR, Zhang J, Kavuri MS, McEachern D, Dong YY, Ma C, Pluard T, Naughton M, Bose R, Suresh R, McDowell R, Michel L, Aft R, Gillanders W, DeSchryver K, Wilson RK, Wang S, Mills GB, Gonzalez-Angulo A, Edwards JR, Maher C, Perou CM, Mardis ER, Ellis MJ	Endocrine-therapy-resistant ESR1 variants revealed by genomic characterization of breast-cancer-derived xenografts	Cell Reports	2013 Sep	To characterize patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) for functional studies, we made whole-genome comparisons with originating breast cancers representative of the major intrinsic subtypes. Structural and copy number aberrations were found to be retained with high fidelity. However, at the single-nucleotide level, variable numbers of PDX-specific somatic events were documented, although they were only rarely functionally significant. Variant allele frequencies were often preserved in the PDXs, demonstrating that clonal representation can be transplantable. Estrogen-receptor-positive PDXs were associated with ESR1 ligand-binding-domain mutations, gene amplification, or an ESR1/YAP1 translocation. These events produced different endocrine-therapy-response phenotypes in human, cell line, and PDX endocrine-response studies. Hence, deeply sequenced PDX models are an important resource for the search for genome-forward treatment options and capture endocrine-drug-resistance etiologies that are not observed in standard cell lines. The originating tumor genome provides a benchmark for assessing genetic drift and clonal representation after transplantation. 	Homo sapiens		phs000611		>=8	2-4	NA
22123490	Research	Small cell lung cancer	Array CGH	Kamakura Research Laboratories, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Kamakura, Japan	Kitada K, Aida S, Aikawa S	Coamplification of multiple regions of chromosome 2, including MYCN, in a single patchwork amplicon in cancer cell lines	Cytogenetic and Genome Research	2011 Nov 	Coamplification of multiple segments of chromosome 2, including an MYCN-bearing segment, was examined in 2 cancer cell lines, NCI-H69 (lung cancer) and IMR-32 (neuroblastoma). High-resolution array-CGH analysis revealed 13 and 6 highly amplified segments located at different sites in chromosome 2 in NCI-H69 and IMR-32, respectively. FISH analysis demonstrated that these segments were co-localized in double minutes in NCI-H69 and in homogeneously staining regions in IMR-32. Connectivity of the segments was determined by a PCR assay using designed primer sets. It was found that all the segments were connected to each other irrespective of their order and orientation against the genome sequence, and a single chain-like cluster was configured in both cell lines. Such patchwork structures of the amplicons suggest the possibility that massive genomic rearrangements, explained by the single catastrophic event model, are involved in the formation of the amplicons, enabling the coamplification of different chromosomal regions including the MYCN locus. The model comprises massive fragmentation of chromosomes and random rejoining of the fragments.	Homo sapiens				>=12	3-4	Yes
25938371	Methodology	Glioblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA	Chen X, Gupta P, Wang J, Nakitandwe J, Roberts K, Dalton JD, Parker M, Patel S, Holmfeldt L, Payne D, Easton J, Ma J, Rusch M, Wu G, Patel A, Baker SJ, Dyer MA, Shurtleff S, Espy S, Pounds S, Downing JR, Ellison DW, Mullighan CG, Zhang J	CONSERTING: integrating copy-number analysis with structural-variation detection	Nature methods	2015 Jun	We developed Copy Number Segmentation by Regression Tree in Next Generation Sequencing (CONSERTING), an algorithm for detecting somatic copy-number alteration (CNA) using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data. CONSERTING performs iterative analysis of segmentation on the basis of changes in read depth and the detection of localized structural variations, with high accuracy and sensitivity. Analysis of 43 cancer genomes from both pediatric and adult patients revealed novel oncogenic CNAs, complex rearrangements and subclonal CNAs missed by alternative approaches. 	Homo sapiens		phs000340;phs000352;phs000218;phs000178		>=2	2-3	NA
24613276	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia	SNP Array	Biostatistics Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA	Laurie CC, Laurie CA, Smoley SA, Carlson EE, Flinn I, Fridley BL, Greisman HA, Gribben JG, Jelinek DF, Nelson SC, Paietta E, Schaid D, Sun Z, Tallman MS, Weinshilboum R, Kay NE, Shanafelt TD	Acquired chromosomal anomalies in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients compared with more than 50,000 quasi-normal participants	Cancer Genetics	2014 Jan	Pretherapy patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) from US Intergroup trial E2997 were analyzed with single nucleotide polymorphism microarrays to detect acquired chromosomal anomalies. The four CLL-typical anomalies (11q-, +12, 13q-, and 17p-) were found at expected frequencies. Acquired anomalies in other regions account for 70% of the total detected anomalies, and their number per participant has a significant effect on progression-free survival after adjusting for the effects of 17p- (and other covariates). These results were compared with those from a previous study of more than 50,000 participants from the GENEVA consortium of genome-wide association studies, which analyzed individuals with a variety of medical conditions and healthy controls. The percentage of individuals with acquired anomalies is vastly different between the two studies (GENEVA 0.8%; E2997 80%). The composition of the anomalies also differs, with GENEVA having a higher percentage of acquired uniparental disomies and a lower percentage of deletions. The four common CLL anomalies are among the most frequent in GENEVA participants, some of whom may have CLL-precursor conditions or early stages of CLL. However, the patients from E2997 (and other studies of symptomatic CLL) have recurrent acquired anomalies that were not found in GENEVA participants, thus identifying genomic changes that may be unique to symptomatic stages of CLL. 	Homo sapiens		phs000621		>=20	2-3	NA
22267523	Research	Hepatocellular carcinoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, California 94080, USA	Jiang Z, Jhunjhunwala S, Liu J, Haverty PM, Kennemer MI, Guan Y, Lee W, Carnevali P, Stinson J, Johnson S, Diao J, Yeung S, Jubb A, Ye W, Wu TD, Kapadia SB, de Sauvage FJ, Gentleman RC, Stern HM, Seshagiri S, Pant KP, Modrusan Z, Ballinger DG, Zhang Z	The effects of hepatitis B virus integration into the genomes of hepatocellular carcinoma patients	Genome Research	2012 Apr	Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a leading risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV integration into the host genome has been reported, but its scale, impact and contribution to HCC development is not clear. Here, we sequenced the tumor and nontumor genomes (>80X coverage) and transcriptomes of four HCC patients and identified 255 HBV integration sites. Increased sequencing to 240X coverage revealed a proportionally higher number of integration sites. Clonal expansion of HBV-integrated hepatocytes was found specifically in tumor samples. We observe a diverse collection of genomic perturbations near viral integration sites, including direct gene disruption, viral promoter-driven human transcription, viral-human transcript fusion, and DNA copy number alteration. Thus, we report the most comprehensive characterization of HBV integration in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Such widespread random viral integration will likely increase carcinogenic opportunities in HBV-infected individuals.	Homo sapiens		phs000384		>=16	2	Yes
23496902	Research	Breast cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Immunology, Genetics, and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE 751 85, Sweden	Jiao X, Hooper SD, Djureinovic T, Larsson C, Warnberg F, Tellgren-Roth C, Botling J, Sjoblom T	Gene rearrangements in hormone receptor negative breast cancers revealed by mate pair sequencing	BMC Genomics	2013 Mar	BACKGROUND: Chromosomal rearrangements in the form of deletions, insertions, inversions and translocations are frequently observed in breast cancer genomes, and a subset of these rearrangements may play a crucial role in tumorigenesis. To identify novel somatic chromosomal rearrangements, we determined the genome structures of 15 hormone-receptor negative breast tumors by long-insert mate pair massively parallel sequencing. RESULTS: We identified and validated 40 somatic structural alterations, including the recurring fusion between genes DDX10 and SKA3 and translocations involving the EPHA5 gene. Other rearrangements were found to affect genes in pathways involved in epigenetic regulation, mitosis and signal transduction, underscoring their potential role in breast tumorigenesis. RNA interference-mediated suppression of five candidate genes (DDX10, SKA3, EPHA5, CLTC and TNIK) led to inhibition of breast cancer cell growth. Moreover, downregulation of DDX10 in breast cancer cells lead to an increased frequency of apoptotic nuclear morphology. CONCLUSIONS: Using whole genome mate pair sequencing and RNA interference assays, we have discovered a number of novel gene rearrangements in breast cancer genomes and identified DDX10, SKA3, EPHA5, CLTC and TNIK as potential cancer genes with impact on the growth and proliferation of breast cancer cells. 	Homo sapiens				>=18	2	Yes
23047824	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia	SNP Array	Department of Internal Medicine III, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany	Edelmann J, Holzmann K, Miller F, Winkler D, Buhler A, Zenz T, Bullinger L, Kuhn MW, Gerhardinger A, Bloehdorn J, Radtke I, Su X, Ma J, Pounds S, Hallek M, Lichter P, Korbel J, Busch R, Mertens D, Downing JR, Stilgenbauer S, Dohner H	High-resolution genomic profiling of chronic lymphocytic leukemia reveals new recurrent genomic alterations	Blood	2012 Dec	To identify genomic alterations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), we performed single-nucleotide polymorphism-array analysis using Affymetrix Version 6.0 on 353 samples from untreated patients entered in the CLL8 treatment trial. Based on paired-sample analysis (n = 144), a mean of 1.8 copy number alterations per patient were identified; approximately 60% of patients carried no copy number alterations other than those detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. Copy-neutral loss-of-heterozygosity was detected in 6% of CLL patients and was found most frequently on 13q, 17p, and 11q. Minimally deleted regions were refined on 13q14 (deleted in 61% of patients) to the DLEU1 and DLEU2 genes, on 11q22.3 (27% of patients) to ATM, on 2p16.1-2p15 (gained in 7% of patients) to a 1.9-Mb fragment containing 9 genes, and on 8q24.21 (5% of patients) to a segment 486 kb proximal to the MYC locus. 13q deletions exhibited proximal and distal breakpoint cluster regions. Among the most common novel lesions were deletions at 15q15.1 (4% of patients), with the smallest deletion (70.48 kb) found in the MGA locus. Sequence analysis of MGA in 59 samples revealed a truncating mutation in one CLL patient lacking a 15q deletion. MNT at 17p13.3, which in addition to MGA and MYC encodes for the network of MAX-interacting proteins, was also deleted recurrently.	Homo sapiens	GSE36908			>=14	2	NA
23796897	Research	Glioblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology	Zheng S, Fu J, Vegesna R, Mao Y, Heathcock LE, Torres-Garcia W, Ezhilarasan R, Wang S, McKenna A, Chin L, Brennan CW, Yung WK, Weinstein JN, Aldape KD, Sulman EP, Chen K, Koul D, Verhaak RG	A survey of intragenic breakpoints in glioblastoma identifies a distinct subset associated with poor survival	Genes & Development	2013 Jul 	With the advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies, much progress has been made in the identification of somatic structural rearrangements in cancer genomes. However, characterization of the complex alterations and their associated mechanisms remains inadequate. Here, we report a comprehensive analysis of whole-genome sequencing and DNA copy number data sets from The Cancer Genome Atlas to relate chromosomal alterations to imbalances in DNA dosage and describe the landscape of intragenic breakpoints in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Gene length, guanine-cytosine (GC) content, and local presence of a copy number alteration were closely associated with breakpoint susceptibility. A dense pattern of repeated focal amplifications involving the murine double minute 2 (MDM2)/cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) oncogenes and associated with poor survival was identified in 5% of GBMs. Gene fusions and rearrangements were detected concomitant within the breakpoint-enriched region. At the gene level, we noted recurrent breakpoints in genes such as apoptosis regulator FAF1. Structural alterations of the FAF1 gene disrupted expression and led to protein depletion. Restoration of the FAF1 protein in glioma cell lines significantly increased the FAS-mediated apoptosis response. Our study uncovered a previously underappreciated genomic mechanism of gene deregulation that can confer growth advantages on tumor cells and may generate cancer-specific vulnerabilities in subsets of GBM. 	Homo sapiens				>=20	>2	NA
25178926	Research	Bladder cancer	Array CGH	Department of Surgery and Translational Medicine, University of Milan-Bicocca, via Cadore 48, 20052 Monza, Italy	Conconi D, Panzeri E, Redaelli S, Bovo G, Vigano P, Strada G, Dalpra L, Bentivegna A	Chromosomal imbalances in human bladder urothelial carcinoma: similarities and differences between biopsy samples and cancer stem-like cells	BMC Cancer	2014 Sep 	BACKGROUND: The existence of two distinct groups of tumors with different clinical characteristic is a remarkable feature of transitional cell carcinomas (TCCs) of the bladder. More than 70% are low-grade (LG) non-infiltrating (NI) cancers at diagnosis, but 60-80% of them recur at least one time and 10-20% progress in stage and grade. On the other hand, about 20% of tumors show muscle invasion (IN) and have a poor prognosis with <50% survival after 5 years. This study focuses on the complexity of the bladder cancer genome, and for the first time to our knowledge, on the possibility to compare genomic alterations of in vitro selected cancer stem-like cells (CSCs), and their original biopsy in order to identify different genomic signature already present in the early stages of tumorigenesis of LG and HG tumors. METHODS: We initially used conventional chromosome analysis on TCC biopsies with different histotypes (LG vs HG) in order to detect rough differences between them. Then, we performed array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) on 10 HG and 10 LG tumors providing an overview of copy number alterations (CNAs). Finally, we made a comparison of the overall CNAs in 16 biopsies and their respective CSCs isolated from them. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that LG and HG bladder cancer differ with regard to their genomic profile even in the early stage of tumorigenesis; moreover, we identified a subgroup of LG samples with a higher tendency to lose genomic regions which could represent a more aggressive phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes not only provide valuable information to deeper studying TCC carcinogenesis, but also could help in the clinic for diagnosis and prognosis of patients who will benefit from a more aggressive therapy. 	Homo sapiens				>=16	2-3	NA
25079552	Research	Non Small-cell lung cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	University of CaliforniaSan Francisco, San Francisco,California94158,USA	Collisson EA, Campbell JD, Brooks AN, Berger AH, Lee W, Chmielecki J, Beer DG, Cope L, Creighton CJ, Danilova L, Ding L, Getz G, Hammerman PS, Hayes DN, Hernandez B, Herman JG, Heymach JV, Jurisica I, Kucherlapati R, Kwiatkowski D, Ladanyi M, Robertson G, Schultz N, Shen R, Sinha R, Sougnez C, Tsao MS, Travis WD, Weinstein JN, Wigle DA, Wilkerson MD, Chu A, Cherniack AD, Hadjipanayis A, Rosenberg M, Weisenberger DJ, Laird PW, Radenbaugh A, Ma S, Stuart JM, Averett Byers L, Baylin SB, Govindan R, Meyerson M, Rosenberg M, Gabriel SB, Cibulskis K, Sougnez C, Kim J, Stewart C, Lichtenstein L, Lander ES, Lawrence MS, Getz, Kandoth C, Fulton R, Fulton LL, McLellan MD, Wilson RK, Ye K, Fronick CC, Maher CA, Miller CA, Wendl MC, Cabanski C, Ding L, Mardis E, Govindan R, Creighton CJ, Wheeler D, Balasundaram M, Butterfield YS, Carlsen R, Chu A, Chuah E, Dhalla N, Guin R, Hirst C, Lee D, Li HI, Mayo M, Moore RA, Mungall AJ, Schein JE, Sipahimalani P, Tam A, Varhol R, Robertson A, Wye N, Thiessen N, Holt RA, Jones SJ, Marra MA, Campbell JD, Brooks AN, Chmielecki J, Imielinski M, Onofrio RC, Hodis E, Zack T, Sougnez C, Helman E, Sekhar Pedamallu C, Mesirov J, Cherniack AD, Saksena G, Schumacher SE, Carter SL, Hernandez B, Garraway L, Beroukhim R, Gabriel SB, Getz G, Meyerson M, Hadjipanayis A, Lee S, Mahadeshwar HS, Pantazi A, Protopopov A, Ren X, Seth S, Song X, Tang J, Yang L, Zhang J, Chen PC, Parfenov M, Wei Xu A, Santoso N, Chin L, Park PJ, Kucherlapati R, Hoadley KA, Auman JT, Meng S, Shi Y, Buda E, Waring S, Veluvolu U, Tan D, Mieczkowski PA, Jones CD, Simons JV, Soloway MG, Bodenheimer T, Jefferys SR, Roach J, Hoyle AP, Wu J, Balu S, Singh D, Prins JF, Marron JS, Parker JS, Hayes DN, Perou CM, Liu J, Cope L, Danilova L, Weisenberger DJ, Maglinte DT, Lai PH, Bootwalla MS, Van Den Berg DJ, Triche T Jr, Baylin SB, Laird PW, Rosenberg M, Chin L, Zhang J, Cho J, DiCara D, Heiman D, Lin P, Mallard W, Voet D, Zhang H, Zou L, Noble MS, Lawrence MS, Saksena G, Gehlenborg N, Thorvaldsdottir H, Mesirov J, Nazaire MD, Robinson J, Getz G, Lee W, Aksoy BA, Ciriello G, Taylor BS, Dresdner G, Gao J, Gross B, Seshan VE, Ladanyi M, Reva B, Sinha R, Sumer SO, Weinhold N, Schultz N, Shen R, Sander C, Ng S, Ma S, Zhu J, Radenbaugh A, Stuart JM, Benz CC, Yau C, Haussler D, Spellman PT, Wilkerson MD, Parker JS, Hoadley KA, Kimes PK, Hayes DN, Perou CM, Broom BM, Wang J, Lu Y, Kwok Shing Ng P, Diao L, Averett Byers L, Liu W, Heymach JV, Amos CI, Weinstein JN, Akbani R, Mills GB, Curley E, Paulauskis J, Lau K, Morris S, Shelton T, Mallery D, Gardner J, Penny R, Saller C, Tarvin K, Richards WG, Cerfolio R, Bryant A, Raymond DP, Pennell NA, Farver C, Czerwinski C, Huelsenbeck-Dill L, Iacocca M, Petrelli N, Rabeno B, Brown J, Bauer T, Dolzhanskiy O, Potapova O, Rotin D, Voronina O, Nemirovich-Danchenko E, Fedosenko KV, Gal A, Behera M, Ramalingam SS, Sica G, Flieder D, Boyd J, Weaver J, Kohl B, Huy Quoc Thinh D, Sandusky G, Juhl H, Duhig E, Illei P, Gabrielson E, Shin J, Lee B, Rodgers K, Trusty D, Brock MV, Williamson C, Burks E, Rieger-Christ K, Holway A, Sullivan T, Wigle DA, Asiedu MK, Kosari F, Travis WD, Rekhtman N, Zakowski M, Rusch VW, Zippile P, Suh J, Pass H, Goparaju C, Owusu-Sarpong Y, Bartlett JM, Kodeeswaran S, Parfitt J, Sekhon H, Albert M, Eckman J, Myers JB, Cheney R, Morrison C, Gaudioso C, Borgia JA, Bonomi P, Pool M, Liptay MJ, Moiseenko F, Zaytseva I, Dienemann H, Meister M, Schnabel PA, Muley TR, Peifer M, Gomez-Fernandez C, Herbert L, Egea S, Huang M, Thorne LB, Boice L, Hill Salazar A, Funkhouser WK, Rathmell WK, Dhir R, Yousem SA, Dacic S, Schneider F, Siegfried JM, Hajek R, Watson MA, McDonald S, Meyers B, Clarke B, Yang IA, Fong KM, Hunter L, Windsor M, Bowman RV, Peters S, Letovanec I, Khan KZ, Jensen MA, Snyder EE, Srinivasan D, Kahn AB, Baboud J, Pot DA, Mills Shaw KR, Sheth M, Davidsen T, Demchok JA, Yang L, Wang Z, Tarnuzzer R, Zenklusen JC, Ozenberger BA, Sofia HJ, Travis WD, Cheney R, Clarke B, Dacic S, Duhig E, Funkhouser WK, Illei P, Farver C, Rekhtman N, Sica G, Suh J, Tsao MS, Travis WD, Cheney R, Clarke B, Dacic S, Duhig E, Funkhouser WK, Illei P, Farver C, Rekhtman N, Sica G, Suh J, Tsao MS	Comprehensive molecular profiling of lung adenocarcinoma	Nature	2014 Jul 	Adenocarcinoma of the lung is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Here we report molecular profiling of 230 resected lung adenocarcinomas using messenger RNA, microRNA and DNA sequencing integrated with copy number, methylation and proteomic analyses. High rates of somatic mutation were seen (mean 8.9 mutations per megabase). Eighteen genes were statistically significantly mutated, including RIT1 activating mutations and newly described loss-of-function MGA mutations which are mutually exclusive with focal MYC amplification. EGFR mutations were more frequent in female patients, whereas mutations in RBM10 were more common in males. Aberrations in NF1, MET, ERBB2 and RIT1 occurred in 13% of cases and were enriched in samples otherwise lacking an activated oncogene, suggesting a driver role for these events in certain tumours. DNA and mRNA sequence from the same tumour highlighted splicing alterations driven by somatic genomic changes, including exon 14 skipping in MET mRNA in 4% of cases. MAPK and PI(3)K pathway activity, when measured at the protein level, was explained by known mutations in only a fraction of cases, suggesting additional, unexplained mechanisms of pathway activation. These data establish a foundation for classification and further investigations of lung adenocarcinoma molecular pathogenesis. 	Homo sapiens				>=2	2-3	Yes
25903014	Research	Acute lymphoblastic leukemia	SNP Array	Department of Clinical Genetics, University and Regional Laboratories, Region Skane, SE-221 85, Lund, Sweden	Karrman K, Castor A, Behrendtz M, Forestier E, Olsson L, Ehinger M, Biloglav A, Fioretos T, Paulsson K, Johansson B	Deep sequencing and SNP array analyses of pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia reveal NOTCH1 mutations in minor subclones and a high incidence of uniparental isodisomies affecting CDKN2A	Journal of Hematology & Oncology	2015 Apr 	BACKGROUND: Pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a genetically heterogeneous disease that arises in a multistep fashion through acquisition of several genetic aberrations, subsequently giving rise to a malignant, clonal expansion of T-lymphoblasts. The aim of the present study was to identify additional as well as cooperative genetic events in T-ALL. METHODS: A population-based pediatric T-ALL series comprising 47 cases was investigated by SNP array and deep sequencing analyses of 75 genes, in order to ascertain pathogenetically pertinent aberrations and to identify cooperative events. RESULTS: The majority (92%) of cases harbored copy number aberrations/uniparental isodisomies (UPIDs), with a median of three changes (range 0-11) per case. The genes recurrently deleted comprised CDKN2A, CDKN2B, LEF1, PTEN, RBI, and STIL. No case had a whole chromosome UPID; in fact, literature data show that this is a rare phenomenon in T-ALL. However, segmental UPIDs (sUPIDs) were seen in 42% of our cases, with most being sUPID9p that always were associated with homozygous CDKN2A deletions, with a heterozygous deletion occurring prior to the sUPID9p in all instances. Among the 75 genes sequenced, 14 (19%) were mutated in 28 (72%) of 39 analyzed cases. The genes targeted are involved in signaling transduction, epigenetic regulation, and transcription. In some cases, NOTCH1 mutations were seen in minor subclones and lost at relapse; thus, such mutations can be secondary events. CONCLUSIONS: Deep sequencing and SNP array analyses of T-ALL revealed lack of wUPIDs, a high proportion of sUPID9p targeting CDKN2A, NOTCH1 mutations in subclones, and recurrent mutations of genes involved in signaling transduction, epigenetic regulation, and transcription.	Homo sapiens				28	2	NA
24670920	Research	Pulmonary carcinoid	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Translational Genomics, Center of Integrated Oncology Cologne-Bonn, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, 50924 Cologne, Germany	Fernandez-Cuesta L, Peifer M, Lu X, Sun R, Ozretic L, Seidel D, Zander T, Leenders F, George J, Muller C, Dahmen I, Pinther B, Bosco G, Konrad K, Altmuller J, Nurnberg P, Achter V, Lang U, Schneider PM, Bogus M, Soltermann A, Brustugun OT, Helland A, Solberg S, Lund-Iversen M, Ansen S, Stoelben E, Wright GM, Russell P, Wainer Z, Solomon B, Field JK, Hyde R, Davies MP, Heukamp LC, Petersen I, Perner S, Lovly CM, Cappuzzo F, Travis WD, Wolf J, Vingron M, Brambilla E, Haas SA, Buettner R, Thomas RK	Frequent mutations in chromatin-remodelling genes in pulmonary carcinoids	Nature Communications	2014 Mar 	Pulmonary carcinoids are rare neuroendocrine tumours of the lung. The molecular alterations underlying the pathogenesis of these tumours have not been systematically studied so far. Here we perform gene copy number analysis (n=54), genome/exome (n=44) and transcriptome (n=69) sequencing of pulmonary carcinoids and observe frequent mutations in chromatin-remodelling genes. Covalent histone modifiers and subunits of the SWI/SNF complex are mutated in 40 and 22.2% of the cases, respectively, with MEN1, PSIP1 and ARID1A being recurrently affected. In contrast to small-cell lung cancer and large-cell neuroendocrine lung tumours, TP53 and RB1 mutations are rare events, suggesting that pulmonary carcinoids are not early progenitor lesions of the highly aggressive lung neuroendocrine tumours but arise through independent cellular mechanisms. These data also suggest that inactivation of chromatin-remodelling genes is sufficient to drive transformation in pulmonary carcinoids. 	Homo sapiens				>=8	3	Yes
24550227	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia	SNP Array	Hematology, Department of Cellular Biotechnologies and Hematology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy	Messina M, Del Giudice I, Khiabanian H, Rossi D, Chiaretti S, Rasi S, Spina V, Holmes AB, Marinelli M, Fabbri G, Piciocchi A, Mauro FR, Guarini A, Gaidano G, Dalla-Favera R, Pasqualucci L, Rabadan R, Foa R	Genetic lesions associated with chronic lymphocytic leukemia chemo-refractoriness	Blood	2014 Apr 	Fludarabine refractoriness (FR) represents an unsolved clinical problem of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) management. Although next-generation sequencing studies have led to the identification of a number of genes frequently mutated in FR-CLL, a comprehensive evaluation of the FR-CLL genome has not been reported. Toward this end, we studied 10 FR-CLLs by combining whole-exome sequencing and copy number aberration (CNA) analysis, which showed an average of 16.3 somatic mutations and 4 CNAs per sample. Screening of recurrently mutated genes in 48 additional FR-CLLs revealed that ~70% of FR-CLLs carry >=1 mutation in genes previously associated with CLL clinical course, including TP53 (27.5%), NOTCH1 (24.1%), SF3B1 (18.9%), and BIRC3 (15.5%). In addition, this analysis showed that 10.3% of FR-CLL cases display mutations of the FAT1 gene, which encodes for a cadherin-like protein that negatively regulates Wnt signaling, consistent with a tumor suppressor role. The frequency of FAT1-mutated cases was significantly higher in FR-CLL than in unselected CLLs at diagnosis (10.3% vs 1.1%, P = .004), suggesting a role in the development of a high-risk phenotype. These findings have general implications for the mechanisms leading to FR and point to Wnt signaling as a potential therapeutic target in FR-CLL.	Homo sapiens	GSE51711			>=12	1-2	NA
25497101	Research	Congenital abnormality	Next Generation Sequencing	Hubrecht Institute-KNAW and University Medical Center Utrecht, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, the Netherlands	van Heesch S, Simonis M, van Roosmalen MJ, Pillalamarri V, Brand H, Kuijk EW, de Luca KL, Lansu N, Braat AK, Menelaou A, Hao W, Korving J, Snijder S, van der Veken LT, Hochstenbach R, Knegt AC, Duran K, Renkens I, Alekozai N, Jager M, Vergult S, Menten B, de Bruijn E, Boymans S, Ippel E, van Binsbergen E, Talkowski ME, Lichtenbelt K, Cuppen E, Kloosterman WP	Genomic and functional overlap between somatic and germline chromosomal rearrangements	Cell Reports	2014 Dec 	Genomic rearrangements are a common cause of human congenital abnormalities. However, their origin and consequences are poorly understood. We performed molecular analysis of two patients with congenital disease who carried de novo genomic rearrangements. We found that the rearrangements in both patients hit genes that are recurrently rearranged in cancer (ETV1, FOXP1, and microRNA cluster C19MC) and drive formation of fusion genes similar to those described in cancer. Subsequent analysis of a large set of 552 de novo germline genomic rearrangements underlying congenital disorders revealed enrichment for genes rearranged in cancer and overlap with somatic cancer breakpoints. Breakpoints of common (inherited) germline structural variations also overlap with cancer breakpoints but are depleted for cancer genes. We propose that the same genomic positions are prone to genomic rearrangements in germline and soma but that timing and context of breakage determines whether developmental defects or cancer are promoted. 	Homo sapiens			PRJEB5063;PRJEB3030	>=2	2	Yes
24401281	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia	SNP Array	Department of Human Genetics, Radboud university medical center, P,O, Box 9101, Nijmegen 6500 HB, The Netherlands. Marian	Stevens-Kroef MJ, van den Berg E, Olde Weghuis D, Geurts van Kessel A, Pfundt R, Linssen-Wiersma M, Benjamins M, Dijkhuizen T, Groenen PJ, Simons A	Identification of prognostic relevant chromosomal abnormalities in chronic lymphocytic leukemia using microarray-based genomic profiling	Molecular Cytogenetics	2014 Jan 	BACKGROUND: Characteristic genomic abnormalities in patients with B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have been shown to provide important prognostic information. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), currently used in clinical diagnostics of CLL, are targeted tests aimed at specific genomic loci. Microarray-based genomic profiling is a new high-resolution tool that enables genome-wide analyses. The aim of this study was to compare two recently launched genomic microarray platforms, i.e., the CytoScan HD Array (Affymetrix) and the HumanOmniExpress Array (Illumina), with FISH and MLPA to ascertain whether these latter tests can be replaced by either one of the microarray platforms in a clinical diagnostic setting. RESULT: Microarray-based genomic profiling and FISH were performed in all 28 CLL patients. For an unbiased comparison of the performance of both microarray platforms 9 patients were evaluated on both platforms, resulting in the identification of exactly identical genomic aberrations. To evaluate the detection limit of the microarray platforms we included 7 patients in which the genomic abnormalities were present in a relatively low percentage of the cells (range 5-28%) as previously determined by FISH. We found that both microarray platforms allowed the detection of copy number abnormalities present in as few as 16% of the cells. In addition, we found that microarray-based genomic profiling allowed the identification of genomic abnormalities that could not be detected by FISH and/or MLPA, including a focal TP53 loss and copy neutral losses of heterozygosity of chromosome 17p. CONCLUSION: From our results we conclude that although the microarray platforms exhibit a somewhat lower limit of detection compared to FISH, they still allow the detection of copy number abnormalities present in as few as 16% of the cells. By applying similar interpretation criteria, the results obtained from both platforms were comparable. In addition, we conclude that both microarray platforms allow the identification of additional potential prognostic relevant abnormalities such as focal TP53 deletions and copy neutral losses of heterozygosity of chromosome 17p, which would have remained undetected by FISH or MLPA. The prognostic relevance of these novel genomic alterations requires further evaluation in prospective clinical trials. 	Homo sapiens				>=10	2	NA
24613930	Research	Thyroid cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Department of Otolaryngology, Department of Surgery, Division of Endocrine Surgery, and Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213	Kelly LM, Barila G, Liu P, Evdokimova VN, Trivedi S, Panebianco F, Gandhi M, Carty SE, Hodak SP, Luo J, Dacic S, Yu YP, Nikiforova MN, Ferris RL, Altschuler DL, Nikiforov YE	Identification of the transforming STRN-ALK fusion as a potential therapeutic target in the aggressive forms of thyroid cancer	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America	2014 Mar 	Thyroid cancer is a common endocrine malignancy that encompasses well-differentiated as well as dedifferentiated cancer types. The latter tumors have high mortality and lack effective therapies. Using a paired-end RNA-sequencing approach, we report the discovery of rearrangements involving the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene in thyroid cancer. The most common of these involves a fusion between ALK and the striatin (STRN) gene, which is the result of a complex rearrangement involving the short arm of chromosome 2. STRN-ALK leads to constitutive activation of ALK kinase via dimerization mediated by the coiled-coil domain of STRN and to a kinase-dependent, thyroid-stimulating hormone-independent proliferation of thyroid cells. Moreover, expression of STRN-ALK transforms cells in vitro and induces tumor formation in nude mice. The kinase activity of STRN-ALK and the ALK-induced cell growth can be blocked by the ALK inhibitors crizotinib and TAE684. In addition to well-differentiated papillary cancer, STRN-ALK was found with a higher prevalence in poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancers, and it did not overlap with other known driver mutations in these tumors. Our data demonstrate that STRN-ALK fusion occurs in a subset of patients with highly aggressive types of thyroid cancer and provide initial evidence suggesting that it may represent a therapeutic target for these patients.	Homo sapiens				>=10	NA	NA
22622578	Research	Melanoma	Next Generation Sequencing	The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA	Berger MF, Hodis E, Heffernan TP, Deribe YL, Lawrence MS, Protopopov A, Ivanova E, Watson IR, Nickerson E, Ghosh P, Zhang H, Zeid R, Ren X, Cibulskis K, Sivachenko AY, Wagle N, Sucker A, Sougnez C, Onofrio R, Ambrogio L, Auclair D, Fennell T, Carter SL, Drier Y, Stojanov P, Singer MA, Voet D, Jing R, Saksena G, Barretina J, Ramos AH, Pugh TJ, Stransky N, Parkin M, Winckler W, Mahan S, Ardlie K, Baldwin J, Wargo J, Schadendorf D, Meyerson M, Gabriel SB, Golub TR, Wagner SN, Lander ES, Getz G, Chin L, Garraway LA	Melanoma genome sequencing reveals frequent PREX2 mutations	Nature	2012 May 	Melanoma is notable for its metastatic propensity, lethality in the advanced setting and association with ultraviolet exposure early in life. To obtain a comprehensive genomic view of melanoma in humans, we sequenced the genomes of 25 metastatic melanomas and matched germline DNA. A wide range of point mutation rates was observed: lowest in melanomas whose primaries arose on non-ultraviolet-exposed hairless skin of the extremities (3 and 14 per megabase (Mb) of genome), intermediate in those originating from hair-bearing skin of the trunk (5-55 per Mb), and highest in a patient with a documented history of chronic sun exposure (111 per Mb). Analysis of whole-genome sequence data identified PREX2 (phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate-dependent Rac exchange factor 2)--a PTEN-interacting protein and negative regulator of PTEN in breast cancer--as a significantly mutated gene with a mutation frequency of approximately 14% in an independent extension cohort of 107 human melanomas. PREX2 mutations are biologically relevant, as ectopic expression of mutant PREX2 accelerated tumour formation of immortalized human melanocytes in vivo. Thus, whole-genome sequencing of human melanoma tumours revealed genomic evidence of ultraviolet pathogenesis and discovered a new recurrently mutated gene in melanoma.	Homo sapiens		phs000452		>=141	3	Yes
24819516	Research	Hepatocellular carcinoma	Next Generation Sequencing	European Institute of Oncology (IEO), Department of Experimental Oncology, IFOM-IEO Campus, Via Adamello 16, 20139 Milan, Italy 	Iannelli F, Collino A, Sinha S, Radaelli E, Nicoli P, D'Antiga L, Sonzogni A, Faivre J, Buendia MA, Sturm E, Thompson RJ, Knisely AS, Natoli G, Ghisletti S, Ciccarelli FD	Massive gene amplification drives paediatric hepatocellular carcinoma caused by bile salt export pump deficiency	Nature Communications	2014 May 	Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is almost invariably associated with an underlying inflammatory state, whose direct contribution to the acquisition of critical genomic changes is unclear. Here we map acquired genomic alterations in human and mouse HCCs induced by defects in hepatocyte biliary transporters, which expose hepatocytes to bile salts and cause chronic inflammation that develops into cancer. In both human and mouse cancer genomes, we find few somatic point mutations with no impairment of cancer genes, but massive gene amplification and rearrangements. This genomic landscape differs from that of virus- and alcohol-associated liver cancer. Copy-number gains preferentially occur at late stages of cancer development and frequently target the MAPK signalling pathway, and in particular direct regulators of JNK. The pharmacological inhibition of JNK retards cancer progression in the mouse. Our study demonstrates that intrahepatic cholestasis leading to hepatocyte exposure to bile acids and inflammation promotes cancer through genomic modifications that can be distinguished from those determined by other aetiological factors. 	Mus musculus				>=20	2	NA
23010713	Research	Plasma cell neoplasm	Array CGH	Hematologics Inc, 3161 Elliott Ave, Ste 200, Seattle, WA 98121, USA	Zehentner BK, Hartmann L, Johnson KR, Stephenson CF, Chapman DB, de Baca ME, Wells DA, Loken MR, Tirtorahardjo B, Gunn SR, Lim L	Array-based karyotyping in plasma cell neoplasia after plasma cell enrichment increases detection of genomic aberrations	American Journal of Clinical Pathology	2012 Oct	The discovery of genomic abnormalities present in monoclonal plasma cells has diagnostic, prognostic, and disease-monitoring implications in plasma cell neoplasms (PCNs). However, technical and disease-related limitations hamper the detection of these abnormalities using cytogenetic analysis or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In this study, 28 bone marrow specimens with known PCNs were examined for the presence of genomic abnormalities using microarray analysis after plasma cell enrichment. Cytogenetic analysis was performed on 15 of 28 samples, revealing disease-related genomic aberrations in only 3 (20%) of 15 cases. FISH analysis was performed on enriched plasma cells and detected aberrations in 84.6% of specimens while array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) detected abnormalities in 89.3% of cases. Furthermore, aCGH revealed additional abnormalities in 24 cases compared with FISH alone. We conclude that aCGH after plasma cell enrichment, in combination with FISH, is a valuable approach for routine clinical use in achieving a more complete genetic characterization of patients with PCN.	Homo sapiens				>=20	5	NA
26017449	Research	Ovarian cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Queensland Centre for Medical Genomics, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4067, Australia	Patch AM, Christie EL, Etemadmoghadam D, Garsed DW, George J, Fereday S, Nones K, Cowin P, Alsop K, Bailey PJ, Kassahn KS, Newell F, Quinn MC, Kazakoff S, Quek K, Wilhelm-Benartzi C, Curry E, Leong HS; Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group, Hamilton A, Mileshkin L, Au-Yeung G, Kennedy C, Hung J, Chiew YE, Harnett P, Friedlander M, Quinn M, Pyman J, Cordner S, O'Brien P, Leditschke J, Young G, Strachan K, Waring P, Azar W, Mitchell C, Traficante N, Hendley J, Thorne H, Shackleton M, Miller DK, Arnau GM, Tothill RW, Holloway TP, Semple T, Harliwong I, Nourse C, Nourbakhsh E, Manning S, Idrisoglu S, Bruxner TJ, Christ AN, Poudel B, Holmes O, Anderson M, Leonard C, Lonie A, Hall N, Wood S, Taylor DF, Xu Q, Fink JL, Waddell N, Drapkin R, Stronach E, Gabra H, Brown R, Jewell A, Nagaraj SH, Markham E, Wilson PJ, Ellul J, McNally O, Doyle MA, Vedururu R, Stewart C, Lengyel E, Pearson JV, Waddell N, deFazio A, Grimmond SM, Bowtell DD	Whole-genome characterization of chemoresistant ovarian cancer	Nature	2015 May	Patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) have experienced little improvement in overall survival, and standard treatment has not advanced beyond platinum-based combination chemotherapy, during the past 30 years. To understand the drivers of clinical phenotypes better, here we use whole-genome sequencing of tumour and germline DNA samples from 92 patients with primary refractory, resistant, sensitive and matched acquired resistant disease. We show that gene breakage commonly inactivates the tumour suppressors RB1, NF1, RAD51B and PTEN in HGSC, and contributes to acquired chemotherapy resistance. CCNE1 amplification was common in primary resistant and refractory disease. We observed several molecular events associated with acquired resistance, including multiple independent reversions of germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations in individual patients, loss of BRCA1 promoter methylation, an alteration in molecular subtype, and recurrent promoter fusion associated with overexpression of the drug efflux pump MDR1. 	Homo sapiens	GSE65821			>=35	>2	NA
25496518	Research	Osteosarcoma	Next Generation Sequencing		Reimann E, Koks S, Ho XD, Maasalu K, Martson A	Whole exome sequencing of a single osteosarcoma case--integrative analysis with whole transcriptome RNA-seq data	Human Genomics	2014 Dec 	Background: Osteosarcoma (OS) is a prevalent primary malignant bone tumour with unknown etiology. These highly metastasizing tumours are among the most frequent causes of cancer-related deaths. Thus, there is an urgent need for different markers, and with our study, we were aiming towards finding novel biomarkers for OS. Methods: For that, we analysed the whole exome of the tumorous and non-tumour bone tissue from the same patient with OS applying next-generation sequencing. For data analysis, we used several softwares and combined the exome data with RNA-seq data from our previous study. Results: In the tumour exome, we found wide genomic rearrangements, which should qualify as chromotripsis-we detected almost 3,000 somatic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and small indels and more than 2,000 copy number variants (CNVs) in different chromosomes. Furthermore, the somatic changes seem to be associated to bone tumours, whereas germline mutations to cancer in general. We confirmed the previous findings that the most significant pathway involved in OS pathogenesis is probably the WNT/beta-catenin signalling pathway. Also, the IGF1/ IGF2 and IGF1R homodimer signalling and TP53 (including downstream tumour suppressor gene EI24) pathways may have a role. Additionally, the mucin family genes, especially MUC4 and cell cycle controlling gene CDC27 may be considered as potential biomarkers for OS. Conclusions: The genes, in which the mutations were detected, may be considered as targets for finding biomarkers for OS. As the study is based on a single case and only DNA and RNA analysis, further confirmative studies are required.	Homo sapiens				>=40	2-3	NA
23139213	Research	Neuroblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Inserm U830, Institut Curie, Centre de Recherche, Paris, France	Cazes A, Louis-Brennetot C, Mazot P, Dingli F, Lombard B, Boeva V, Daveau R, Cappo J, Combaret V, Schleiermacher G, Jouannet S, Ferrand S, Pierron G, Barillot E, Loew D, Vigny M, Delattre O, Janoueix-Lerosey I	Characterization of rearrangements involving the ALK gene reveals a novel truncated form associated with tumor aggressiveness in neuroblastoma	Cancer Research	2013 Jan 	Activating mutations of the ALK gene have been identified in sporadic and familial cases of neuroblastoma (NB), a cancer of the peripheral nervous system, and are thought to be the primary mechanism of oncogenic activation of this receptor in this pediatric neoplasm. To address the possibility that ALK activation may occur through genomic rearrangements as detected in other cancers, we first took advantage of high-resolution arraycomparative genomic hybridization to search for ALK rearrangements in NB samples. Using complementary experiments by capture/paired-end sequencing and FISH experiments, various types of rearrangements were fully characterized, including partial gains or amplifications, in several NB cell lines and primary tumors. In the CLB-Bar cell line, we described a genomic rearrangement associated with an amplification of the ALK locus, leading to the expression of a 170 kDa protein lacking part of the extracellular domain encoded by exons 4 to 11, named ALKD4-11. Analysis of genomic DNA from the tumor at diagnosis and relapse revealed that the ALK gene was amplified at diagnosis but that the rearranged ALK allele was observed at the relapse stage only, suggesting that it may be implicated in tumor aggressiveness. Consistently, oncogenic and tumorigenic properties of the ALKD4-11 variant were shown after stable expression in NIH3T3 cells. Moreover, we documented an increased constitutive kinase activity of this variant, as well as an impaired maturation and retention into intracellular compartments. These results indicate that genomic rearrangements constitute an alternative mechanism to ALK point mutations resulting in receptor activation.	Homo sapiens				>=3	2	Yes
24147068	Research	Neuroblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Oncogenomics Section, Pediatric Oncology Branch, Advanced Technology Center, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America	Wei JS, Johansson P, Chen L, Song YK, Tolman C, Li S, Hurd L, Patidar R, Wen X, Badgett TC, Cheuk AT, Marshall JC, Steeg PS, Vaque Diez JP, Yu Y, Gutkind JS, Khan J	Massively parallel sequencing reveals an accumulation of de novo mutations and an activating mutation of LPAR1 in a patient with metastatic neuroblastoma	PLoS One	2013 Oct 	Neuroblastoma is one of the most genomically heterogeneous childhood malignances studied to date, and the molecular events that occur during the course of the disease are not fully understood. Genomic studies in neuroblastoma have showed only a few recurrent mutations and a low somatic mutation burden. However, none of these studies has examined the mutations arising during the course of disease, nor have they systemically examined the expression of mutant genes. Here we performed genomic analyses on tumors taken during a 3.5 years disease course from a neuroblastoma patient (bone marrow biopsy at diagnosis, adrenal primary tumor taken at surgical resection, and a liver metastasis at autopsy). Whole genome sequencing of the index liver metastasis identified 44 non-synonymous somatic mutations in 42 genes (0.85 mutation/MB) and a large hemizygous deletion in the ATRX gene which has been recently reported in neuroblastoma. Of these 45 somatic alterations, 15 were also detected in the primary tumor and bone marrow biopsy, while the other 30 were unique to the index tumor, indicating accumulation of de novo mutations during therapy. Furthermore, transcriptome sequencing on the 3 tumors demonstrated only 3 out of the 15 commonly mutated genes (LPAR1, GATA2, and NUFIP1) had high level of expression of the mutant alleles, suggesting potential oncogenic driver roles of these mutated genes. Among them, the druggable G-protein coupled receptor LPAR1 was highly expressed in all tumors. Cells expressing the LPAR1 R163W mutant demonstrated a significantly increased motility through elevated Rho signaling, but had no effect on growth. Therefore, this study highlights the need for multiple biopsies and sequencing during progression of a cancer and combinatorial DNA and RNA sequencing approach for systematic identification of expressed driver mutations.	Homo sapiens				>=40	>2	Yes
25625332	Research	Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas	SNP Array	INSERM, UMR970, Paris-Cardiovascular Research Center, F-75015 Paris, France 	Castro-Vega LJ, Letouze E, Burnichon N, Buffet A, Disderot PH, Khalifa E, Loriot C, Elarouci N, Morin A, Menara M, Lepoutre-Lussey C, Badoual C, Sibony M, Dousset B, Libe R, Zinzindohoue F, Plouin PF, Bertherat J, Amar L, de Reynies A, Favier J, Gimenez-Roqueplo AP	Multi-omics analysis defines core genomic alterations in pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas	Nature Communications	2015 Jan 	Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PCCs/PGLs) are neural crest-derived tumours with a very strong genetic component. Here we report the first integrated genomic examination of a large collection of PCC/PGL. SNP array analysis reveals distinct copy-number patterns associated with genetic background. Whole-exome sequencing shows a low mutation rate of 0.3 mutations per megabase, with few recurrent somatic mutations in genes not previously associated with PCC/PGL. DNA methylation arrays and miRNA sequencing identify DNA methylation changes and miRNA expression clusters strongly associated with messenger RNA expression profiling. Overexpression of the miRNA cluster 182/96/183 is specific in SDHB-mutated tumours and induces malignant traits, whereas silencing of the imprinted DLK1-MEG3 miRNA cluster appears as a potential driver in a subgroup of sporadic tumours. Altogether, the complete genomic landscape of PCC/PGL is mainly driven by distinct germline and/or somatic mutations in susceptibility genes and reveals different molecular entities, characterized by a set of unique genomic alterations. 	Homo sapiens				>=10	3-4	NA
22362584	Research	Breast cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	The Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, SW3 6JB, UK	Natrajan R, Mackay A, Lambros MB, Weigelt B, Wilkerson PM, Manie E, Grigoriadis A, A'hern R, van der Groep P, Kozarewa I, Popova T, Mariani O, Turajlic S, Furney SJ, Marais R, Rodruigues DN, Flora AC, Wai P, Pawar V, McDade S, Carroll J, Stoppa-Lyonnet D, Green AR, Ellis IO, Swanton C, van Diest P, Delattre O, Lord CJ, Foulkes WD, Vincent-Salomon A, Ashworth A, Henri Stern M, Reis-Filho JS	A whole-genome massively parallel sequencing analysis of BRCA1 mutant oestrogen receptor-negative and -positive breast cancers	The Journal of Pathology	2012 May	BRCA1 encodes a tumour suppressor protein that plays pivotal roles in homologous recombination (HR) DNA repair, cell-cycle checkpoints, and transcriptional regulation. BRCA1 germline mutations confer a high risk of early-onset breast and ovarian cancer. In more than 80% of cases, tumours arising in BRCA1 germline mutation carriers are oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative; however, up to 15% are ER-positive. It has been suggested that BRCA1 ER-positive breast cancers constitute sporadic cancers arising in the context of a BRCA1 germline mutation rather than being causally related to BRCA1 loss-of-function. Whole-genome massively parallel sequencing of ER-positive and ER-negative BRCA1 breast cancers, and their respective germline DNAs, was used to characterize the genetic landscape of BRCA1 cancers at base-pair resolution. Only BRCA1 germline mutations, somatic loss of the wild-type allele, and TP53 somatic mutations were recurrently found in the index cases. BRCA1 breast cancers displayed a mutational signature consistent with that caused by lack of HR DNA repair in both ER-positive and ER-negative cases. Sequencing analysis of independent cohorts of hereditary BRCA1 and sporadic non-BRCA1 breast cancers for the presence of recurrent pathogenic mutations and/or homozygous deletions found in the index cases revealed that DAPK3, TMEM135, KIAA1797, PDE4D, and GATA4 are potential additional drivers of breast cancers. This study demonstrates that BRCA1 pathogenic germline mutations coupled with somatic loss of the wild-type allele are not sufficient for hereditary breast cancers to display an ER-negative phenotype, and has led to the identification of three potential novel breast cancer genes (ie DAPK3, TMEM135, and GATA4).	Homo sapiens				>=25	>3	Yes
22237106	Research	Acute lymphoblastic leukemia	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, USA	Zhang J, Ding L, Holmfeldt L, Wu G, Heatley SL, Payne-Turner D, Easton J, Chen X, Wang J, Rusch M, Lu C, Chen SC, Wei L, Collins-Underwood JR, Ma J, Roberts KG, Pounds SB, Ulyanov A, Becksfort J, Gupta P, Huether R, Kriwacki RW, Parker M, McGoldrick DJ, Zhao D, Alford D, Espy S, Bobba KC, Song G, Pei D, Cheng C, Roberts S, Barbato MI, Campana D, Coustan-Smith E, Shurtleff SA, Raimondi SC, Kleppe M, Cools J, Shimano KA, Hermiston ML, Doulatov S, Eppert K, Laurenti E, Notta F, Dick JE, Basso G, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Devidas M, Wood B, Winter S, Dunsmore KP, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Hong X, Harris CC, Dooling DJ, Ochoa K, Johnson KJ, Obenauer JC, Evans WE, Pui CH, Naeve CW, Ley TJ, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Mullighan CG	The genetic basis of early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia	Nature	2012 Jan 	Early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ETP ALL) is an aggressive malignancy of unknown genetic basis. We performed whole-genome sequencing of 12 ETP ALL cases and assessed the frequency of the identified somatic mutations in 94 T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cases. ETP ALL was characterized by activating mutations in genes regulating cytokine receptor and RAS signalling (67% of cases; NRAS, KRAS, FLT3, IL7R, JAK3, JAK1, SH2B3 and BRAF), inactivating lesions disrupting haematopoietic development (58%; GATA3, ETV6, RUNX1, IKZF1 and EP300) and histone-modifying genes (48%; EZH2, EED, SUZ12, SETD2 and EP300). We also identified new targets of recurrent mutation including DNM2, ECT2L and RELN. The mutational spectrum is similar to myeloid tumours, and moreover, the global transcriptional profile of ETP ALL was similar to that of normal and myeloid leukaemia haematopoietic stem cells. These findings suggest that addition of myeloid-directed therapies might improve the poor outcome of ETP ALL.	Homo sapiens		phs000340		>=10	2-3	NA
22832583	Research	Medulloblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Division of Pediatric Neurooncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, Heidelberg 69120, Germany	Jones DT, Jager N, Kool M, Zichner T, Hutter B, Sultan M, Cho YJ, Pugh TJ, Hovestadt V, Stutz AM, Rausch T, Warnatz HJ, Ryzhova M, Bender S, Sturm D, Pleier S, Cin H, Pfaff E, Sieber L, Wittmann A, Remke M, Witt H, Hutter S, Tzaridis T, Weischenfeldt J, Raeder B, Avci M, Amstislavskiy V, Zapatka M, Weber UD, Wang Q, Lasitschka B, Bartholomae CC, Schmidt M, von Kalle C, Ast V, Lawerenz C, Eils J, Kabbe R, Benes V, van Sluis P, Koster J, Volckmann R, Shih D, Betts MJ, Russell RB, Coco S, Tonini GP, Schuller U, Hans V, Graf N, Kim YJ, Monoranu C, Roggendorf W, Unterberg A, Herold-Mende C, Milde T, Kulozik AE, von Deimling A, Witt O, Maass E, Rossler J, Ebinger M, Schuhmann MU, Fruhwald MC, Hasselblatt M, Jabado N, Rutkowski S, von Bueren AO, Williamson D, Clifford SC, McCabe MG, Collins VP, Wolf S, Wiemann S, Lehrach H, Brors B, Scheurlen W, Felsberg J, Reifenberger G, Northcott PA, Taylor MD, Meyerson M, Pomeroy SL, Yaspo ML, Korbel JO, Korshunov A, Eils R, Pfister SM, Lichter P	Dissecting the genomic complexity underlying medulloblastoma	Nature	2012 Aug 	Medulloblastoma is an aggressively growing tumour, arising in the cerebellum or medulla/brain stem. It is the most common malignant brain tumour in children, and shows tremendous biological and clinical heterogeneity. Despite recent treatment advances, approximately 40% of children experience tumour recurrence, and 30% will die from their disease. Those who survive often have a significantly reduced quality of life. Four tumour subgroups with distinct clinical, biological and genetic profiles are currently identified. WNT tumours, showing activated wingless pathway signalling, carry a favourable prognosis under current treatment regimens. SHH tumours show hedgehog pathway activation, and have an intermediate prognosis. Group 3 and 4 tumours are molecularly less well characterized, and also present the greatest clinical challenges. The full repertoire of genetic events driving this distinction, however, remains unclear. Here we describe an integrative deep-sequencing analysis of 125 tumour-normal pairs, conducted as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) PedBrain Tumor Project. Tetraploidy was identified as a frequent early event in Group 3 and 4 tumours, and a positive correlation between patient age and mutation rate was observed. Several recurrent mutations were identified, both in known medulloblastoma-related genes (CTNNB1, PTCH1, MLL2, SMARCA4) and in genes not previously linked to this tumour (DDX3X, CTDNEP1, KDM6A, TBR1), often in subgroup-specific patterns. RNA sequencing confirmed these alterations, and revealed the expression of what are, to our knowledge, the first medulloblastoma fusion genes identified. Chromatin modifiers were frequently altered across all subgroups. These findings enhance our understanding of the genomic complexity and heterogeneity underlying medulloblastoma, and provide several potential targets for new therapeutics, especially for Group 3 and 4 patients.	Homo sapiens				>=8	2-3	NA
21892161	Research	Colorectal cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Bass AJ, Lawrence MS, Brace LE, Ramos AH, Drier Y, Cibulskis K, Sougnez C, Voet D, Saksena G, Sivachenko A, Jing R, Parkin M, Pugh T, Verhaak RG, Stransky N, Boutin AT, Barretina J, Solit DB, Vakiani E, Shao W, Mishina Y, Warmuth M, Jimenez J, Chiang DY, Signoretti S, Kaelin WG, Spardy N, Hahn WC, Hoshida Y, Ogino S, Depinho RA, Chin L, Garraway LA, Fuchs CS, Baselga J, Tabernero J, Gabriel S, Lander ES, Getz G, Meyerson M	Genomic sequencing of colorectal adenocarcinomas identifies a recurrent VTI1A-TCF7L2 fusion	Nature Genetics	2011 Sep 	Prior studies have identified recurrent oncogenic mutations in colorectal adenocarcinoma and have surveyed exons of protein-coding genes for mutations in 11 affected individuals. Here we report whole-genome sequencing from nine individuals with colorectal cancer, including primary colorectal tumors and matched adjacent non-tumor tissues, at an average of 30.7x and 31.9x coverage, respectively. We identify an average of 75 somatic rearrangements per tumor, including complex networks of translocations between pairs of chromosomes. Eleven rearrangements encode predicted in-frame fusion proteins, including a fusion of VTI1A and TCF7L2 found in 3 out of 97 colorectal cancers. Although TCF7L2 encodes TCF4, which cooperates with beta-catenin in colorectal carcinogenesis, the fusion lacks the TCF4 beta-catenin-binding domain. We found a colorectal carcinoma cell line harboring the fusion gene to be dependent on VTI1A-TCF7L2 for anchorage-independent growth using RNA interference-mediated knockdown. This study shows previously unidentified levels of genomic rearrangements in colorectal carcinoma that can lead to essential gene fusions and other oncogenic events.	Homo sapiens		phs000374		>=14	2-3	NA
23583981	Research	Glioma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA	Zhang J, Wu G, Miller CP, Tatevossian RG, Dalton JD, Tang B, Orisme W, Punchihewa C, Parker M, Qaddoumi I, Boop FA, Lu C, Kandoth C, Ding L, Lee R, Huether R, Chen X, Hedlund E, Nagahawatte P, Rusch M, Boggs K, Cheng J, Becksfort J, Ma J, Song G, Li Y, Wei L, Wang J, Shurtleff S, Easton J, Zhao D, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Dooling DJ, Vadodaria B, Mulder HL, Tang C, Ochoa K, Mullighan CG, Gajjar A, Kriwacki R, Sheer D, Gilbertson RJ, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Baker SJ, Ellison DW; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital -Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project	Whole-genome sequencing identifies genetic alterations in pediatric low-grade gliomas	Nature Genetics	2013 Jun	The most common pediatric brain tumors are low-grade gliomas (LGGs). We used whole-genome sequencing to identify multiple new genetic alterations involving BRAF, RAF1, FGFR1, MYB, MYBL1 and genes with histone-related functions, including H3F3A and ATRX, in 39 LGGs and low-grade glioneuronal tumors (LGGNTs). Only a single non-silent somatic alteration was detected in 24 of 39 (62%) tumors. Intragenic duplications of the portion of FGFR1 encoding the tyrosine kinase domain (TKD) and rearrangements of MYB were recurrent and mutually exclusive in 53% of grade II diffuse LGGs. Transplantation of Trp53-null neonatal astrocytes expressing FGFR1 with the duplication involving the TKD into the brains of nude mice generated high-grade astrocytomas with short latency and 100% penetrance. FGFR1 with the duplication induced FGFR1 autophosphorylation and upregulation of the MAPK/ERK and PI3K pathways, which could be blocked by specific inhibitors. Focusing on the therapeutically challenging diffuse LGGs, our study of 151 tumors has discovered genetic alterations and potential therapeutic targets across the entire range of pediatric LGGs and LGGNTs.	Homo sapiens				>=6	2-3	NA
26031834	Research	Pancreatic cancer	SNP Array	Department of Pathology, The Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21231	Norris AL, Kamiyama H, Makohon-Moore A, Pallavajjala A, Morsberger LA, Lee K, Batista D, Iacobuzio-Donahue CA, Lin MT, Klein AP, Hruban RH, Wheelan SJ, Eshleman JR	Transflip mutations produce deletions in pancreatic cancer	Genes, Chromosomes & Cancer	2015 May 	Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is driven by the inactivation of the tumor suppressor genes (TSGs), CDKN2A (P16) and SMAD4 (DPC4), commonly by homozygous deletions (HDs). Using a combination of high density single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray and whole genome sequencing (WGS), we fine-mapped novel breakpoints surrounding deletions of CDKN2A and SMAD4 and characterized them by their underlying structural variants (SVs). Only one third of CDKN2A and SMAD4 deletions (6 of 18) were simple interstitial deletions, rather, the majority of deletions were caused by complex rearrangements, specifically, a translocation on one side of the TSG in combination with an inversion on the other side. We designate these as TransFlip mutations. Characteristics of TransFlip mutations are: (1) a propensity to target the TSGs CDKN2A and SMAD4 (P < 0.005), (2) not present in the germline of the examined samples, (3) non-recurrent breakpoints, (4) relatively small (47 bp to 3.4 kb) inversions, (5) inversions can be either telomeric or centromeric to the TSG, and (6) non-reciprocal, and non-recurrent translocations. TransFlip mutations are novel complex genomic rearrangements with unique breakpoint signatures in pancreatic cancer. We hypothesize that they are a common but poorly understood mechanism of TSG inactivation in human cancer.	Homo sapiens				>=10	2-3	NA
24413735	Research	Acute lymphoblastic leukemia	Next Generation Sequencing	Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK	Papaemmanuil E, Rapado I, Li Y, Potter NE, Wedge DC, Tubio J, Alexandrov LB, Van Loo P, Cooke SL, Marshall J, Martincorena I, Hinton J, Gundem G, van Delft FW5, Nik-Zainal S, Jones DR, Ramakrishna M, Titley I, Stebbings L, Leroy C, Menzies A, Gamble J, Robinson B, Mudie L, Raine K, O'Meara S, Teague JW, Butler AP, Cazzaniga G, Biondi A, Zuna J, Kempski H, Muschen M, Ford AM, Stratton MR, Greaves M, Campbell PJ	RAG-mediated recombination is the predominant driver of oncogenic rearrangement in ETV6-RUNX1 acute lymphoblastic leukemia	Nature Genetics	2014 Feb	The ETV6-RUNX1 fusion gene, found in 25% of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cases, is acquired in utero but requires additional somatic mutations for overt leukemia. We used exome and low-coverage whole-genome sequencing to characterize secondary events associated with leukemic transformation. RAG-mediated deletions emerge as the dominant mutational process, characterized by recombination signal sequence motifs near breakpoints, incorporation of non-templated sequence at junctions, ~30-fold enrichment at promoters and enhancers of genes actively transcribed in B cell development and an unexpectedly high ratio of recurrent to non-recurrent structural variants. Single-cell tracking shows that this mechanism is active throughout leukemic evolution, with evidence of localized clustering and reiterated deletions. Integration of data on point mutations and rearrangements identifies ATF7IP and MGA as two new tumor-suppressor genes in ALL. Thus, a remarkably parsimonious mutational process transforms ETV6-RUNX1-positive lymphoblasts, targeting the promoters, enhancers and first exons of genes that normally regulate B cell differentiation.	Homo sapiens				>=30	2	Yes
25790038	Research	Renal cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Molecular and Population Genetics Laboratory, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK 	Kovac M, Navas C, Horswell S, Salm M, Bardella C, Rowan A, Stares M, Castro-Giner F, Fisher R, de Bruin EC, Kovacova M, Gorman M, Makino S, Williams J, Jaeger E, Jones A, Howarth K, Larkin J, Pickering L, Gore M, Nicol DL, Hazell S, Stamp G, O'Brien T, Challacombe B, Matthews N, Phillimore B, Begum S, Rabinowitz A, Varela I, Chandra A, Horsfield C, Polson A, Tran M, Bhatt R, Terracciano L, Eppenberger-Castori S, Protheroe A, Maher E, El Bahrawy M, Fleming S, Ratcliffe P, Heinimann K, Swanton C, Tomlinson I	Recurrent chromosomal gains and heterogeneous driver mutations characterise papillary renal cancer evolution	Nature Communications	2015 Mar 	Papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) is an important subtype of kidney cancer with a problematic pathological classification and highly variable clinical behaviour. Here we sequence the genomes or exomes of 31 pRCCs, and in four tumours, multi-region sequencing is undertaken. We identify BAP1, SETD2, ARID2 and Nrf2 pathway genes (KEAP1, NHE2L2 and CUL3) as probable drivers, together with at least eight other possible drivers. However, only ~10% of tumours harbour detectable pathogenic changes in any one driver gene, and where present, the mutations are often predicted to be present within cancer sub-clones. We specifically detect parallel evolution of multiple SETD2 mutations within different sub-regions of the same tumour. By contrast, large copy number gains of chromosomes 7, 12, 16 and 17 are usually early, monoclonal changes in pRCC evolution. The predominance of large copy number variants as the major drivers for pRCC highlights an unusual mode of tumorigenesis that may challenge precision medicine approaches. 	Homo sapiens			PRJEB7875;ERP008861	>=200	3	NA
24703847	Research	Osteosarcoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA	Chen X, Bahrami A, Pappo A, Easton J, Dalton J, Hedlund E, Ellison D, Shurtleff S, Wu G, Wei L, Parker M, Rusch M, Nagahawatte P, Wu J, Mao S, Boggs K, Mulder H, Yergeau D, Lu C, Ding L, Edmonson M, Qu C, Wang J, Li Y, Navid F, Daw NC, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Downing JR, Zhang J, Dyer MA	Recurrent somatic structural variations contribute to tumorigenesis in pediatric osteosarcoma	Cell Reports	2014 Apr 	Pediatric osteosarcoma is characterized by multiple somatic chromosomal lesions, including structural variations (SVs) and copy number alterations (CNAs). To define the landscape of somatic mutations in pediatric osteosarcoma, we performed whole-genome sequencing of DNA from 20 osteosarcoma tumor samples and matched normal tissue in a discovery cohort, as well as 14 samples in a validation cohort. Single-nucleotide variations (SNVs) exhibited a pattern of localized hypermutation called kataegis in 50% of the tumors. We identified p53 pathway lesions in all tumors in the discovery cohort, nine of which were translocations in the first intron of the TP53 gene. Beyond TP53, the RB1, ATRX, and DLG2 genes showed recurrent somatic alterations in 29%-53% of the tumors. These data highlight the power of whole-genome sequencing for identifying recurrent somatic alterations in cancer genomes that may be missed using other methods. 	Homo sapiens				>=10	2-3	NA
22833442	Research	Multiple myeloma	SNP Array	Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands	Stevens-Kroef M, Weghuis DO, Croockewit S, Derksen L, Hooijer J, Elidrissi-Zaynoun N, Siepman A, Simons A, Kessel AG	High detection rate of clinically relevant genomic abnormalities in plasma cells enriched from patients with multiple myeloma	Genes, Chromosomes & Cancer	2012 Nov	Multiple myeloma is a heterogeneous disease, which is characterized by the occurrence of specific genomic abnormalities that are both of diagnostic and prognostic relevance. Since the detection of these abnormalities through molecular-genetic techniques is hampered by the overall low percentage of plasma cells present in primary bone marrow aspirates, we assessed the efficacy of these techniques in enriched plasma cell fractions from 61 multiple myeloma patients. Using interphase FISH, genomic abnormalities could be detected in 96% of the enriched samples as compared to 61% in the cultured whole bone marrow samples. We also found that microarray-based genomic profiling of enriched plasma samples facilitates the detection of additional, possibly clinically relevant, genomic abnormalities. We conclude that the genomic delineation of enriched plasma cells from multiple myeloma patients results in a significantly increased detection rate of clinically relevant genomic abnormalities. In order to facilitate molecular-genetic data interpretation, we recommend morphological assessment of plasma cell purity after enrichment.	Homo sapiens				>=20	3	NA
25186909	Research	Breast cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Cancer Therapeutics and Stratified Oncology, Genome Institute of Singapore, Genome, Singapore 138672, Singapore	Inaki K, Menghi F, Woo XY, Wagner JP, Jacques PE, Lee YF, Shreckengast PT, Soon WW, Malhotra A, Teo AS, Hillmer AM, Khng AJ, Ruan X, Ong SH, Bertrand D, Nagarajan N, Karuturi RK, Miranda AH, Liu ET	Systems consequences of amplicon formation in human breast cancer	Genome Research	2014 Oct	Chromosomal structural variations play an important role in determining the transcriptional landscape of human breast cancers. To assess the nature of these structural variations, we analyzed eight breast tumor samples with a focus on regions of gene amplification using mate-pair sequencing of long-insert genomic DNA with matched transcriptome profiling. We found that tandem duplications appear to be early events in tumor evolution, especially in the genesis of amplicons. In a detailed reconstruction of events on chromosome 17, we found large unpaired inversions and deletions connect a tandemly duplicated ERBB2 with neighboring 17q21.3 amplicons while simultaneously deleting the intervening BRCA1 tumor suppressor locus. This series of events appeared to be unusually common when examined in larger genomic data sets of breast cancers albeit using approaches with lesser resolution. Using siRNAs in breast cancer cell lines, we showed that the 17q21.3 amplicon harbored a significant number of weak oncogenes that appeared consistently coamplified in primary tumors. Down-regulation of BRCA1 expression augmented the cell proliferation in ERBB2-transfected human normal mammary epithelial cells. Coamplification of other functionally tested oncogenic elements in other breast tumors examined, such as RIPK2 and MYC on chromosome 8, also parallel these findings. Our analyses suggest that structural variations efficiently orchestrate the gain and loss of cancer gene cassettes that engage many oncogenic pathways simultaneously and that such oncogenic cassettes are favored during the evolution of a cancer.	Homo sapiens	GSE57914			>=20	2-3	NA
24705251	Research	Glioma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA	Wu G, Diaz AK, Paugh BS, Rankin SL, Ju B, Li Y, Zhu X, Qu C, Chen X, Zhang J, Easton J, Edmonson M, Ma X, Lu C, Nagahawatte P, Hedlund E, Rusch M, Pounds S, Lin T, Onar-Thomas A, Huether R, Kriwacki R, Parker M, Gupta P, Becksfort J, Wei L, Mulder HL, Boggs K, Vadodaria B, Yergeau D, Russell JC, Ochoa K, Fulton RS, Fulton LL, Jones C, Boop FA, Broniscer A, Wetmore C, Gajjar A, Ding L, Mardis ER, Wilson RK, Taylor MR, Downing JR, Ellison DW, Zhang J, Baker SJ	The genomic landscape of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma and pediatric non-brainstem high-grade glioma	Nature Genetics	2014 May	Pediatric high-grade glioma (HGG) is a devastating disease with a less than 20% survival rate 2 years after diagnosis. We analyzed 127 pediatric HGGs, including diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs) and non-brainstem HGGs (NBS-HGGs), by whole-genome, whole-exome and/or transcriptome sequencing. We identified recurrent somatic mutations in ACVR1 exclusively in DIPGs (32%), in addition to previously reported frequent somatic mutations in histone H3 genes, TP53 and ATRX, in both DIPGs and NBS-HGGs. Structural variants generating fusion genes were found in 47% of DIPGs and NBS-HGGs, with recurrent fusions involving the neurotrophin receptor genes NTRK1, NTRK2 and NTRK3 in 40% of NBS-HGGs in infants. Mutations targeting receptor tyrosine kinase-RAS-PI3K signaling, histone modification or chromatin remodeling, and cell cycle regulation were found in 68%, 73% and 59% of pediatric HGGs, respectively, including in DIPGs and NBS-HGGs. This comprehensive analysis provides insights into the unique and shared pathways driving pediatric HGG within and outside the brainstem. 	Homo sapiens				>=20	2-6	Yes
25770156	Research	Breast cancer	SNP Array	Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit, King's College London, London, United Kingdom	Watkins J, Weekes D, Shah V, Gazinska P, Joshi S, Sidhu B, Gillett C, Pinder S, Vanoli F, Jasin M, Mayrhofer M, Isaksson A, Cheang MC, Mirza H, Frankum J, Lord CJ, Ashworth A, Vinayak S, Ford JM, Telli ML, Grigoriadis A, Tutt AN	Genomic Complexity Profiling Reveals That HORMAD1 Overexpression Contributes to Homologous Recombination Deficiency in Triple-Negative Breast Cancers	Cancer Discovery	2015 May	Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) are characterized by a wide spectrum of genomic alterations, some of which might be caused by defects in DNA repair processes such as homologous recombination (HR). Despite this understanding, associating particular patterns of genomic instability with response to therapy has been challenging. Here, we show that allelic-imbalanced copy-number aberrations (AiCNA) are more prevalent in TNBCs that respond to platinum-based chemotherapy, thus providing a candidate predictive biomarker for this disease. Furthermore, we show that a high level of AiCNA is linked with elevated expression of a meiosis-associated gene, HORMAD1. Elevated HORMAD1 expression suppresses RAD51-dependent HR and drives the use of alternative forms of DNA repair, the generation of AiCNAs, as well as sensitizing cancer cells to HR-targeting therapies. Our data therefore provide a mechanistic association between HORMAD1 expression, a specific pattern of genomic instability, and an association with response to platinum-based chemotherapy in TNBC. SIGNIFICANCE: Previous studies have shown correlation between mutational scars and sensitivity to platinums extending beyond associations with BRCA1/2 mutation, but do not elucidate the mechanism. Here, a novel allele-specific copy-number characterization of genome instability identifies and functionally validates the inappropriate expression of the meiotic gene HORMAD1 as a driver of HR deficiency in TNBC, acting to induce allelic imbalance and moderate platinum and PARP inhibitor sensitivity with implications for the use of such scars and expression of meiotic genes as predictive biomarkers. 	Homo sapiens	GSE40267			NA	NA	NA
25719666	Research	Pancreatic cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Queensland Centre for Medical Genomics, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia	Waddell N, Pajic M, Patch AM, Chang DK, Kassahn KS, Bailey P, Johns AL, Miller D, Nones K, Quek K, Quinn MC, Robertson AJ, Fadlullah MZ, Bruxner TJ, Christ AN, Harliwong I, Idrisoglu S, Manning S, Nourse C, Nourbakhsh E, Wani S, Wilson PJ, Markham E, Cloonan N, Anderson MJ, Fink JL, Holmes O, Kazakoff SH, Leonard C, Newell F, Poudel B, Song S, Taylor D, Waddell N, Wood S, Xu Q, Wu J, Pinese M, Cowley MJ, Lee HC, Jones MD, Nagrial AM, Humphris J, Chantrill LA, Chin V, Steinmann AM, Mawson A, Humphrey ES, Colvin EK, Chou A, Scarlett CJ, Pinho AV, Giry-Laterriere M, Rooman I, Samra JS, Kench JG, Pettitt JA, Merrett ND, Toon C, Epari K, Nguyen NQ, Barbour A, Zeps N, Jamieson NB, Graham JS, Niclou SP, Bjerkvig R, Grutzmann R, Aust D, Hruban RH, Maitra A, Iacobuzio-Donahue CA, Wolfgang CL, Morgan RA, Lawlor RT, Corbo V, Bassi C, Falconi M, Zamboni G, Tortora G, Tempero MA; Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative, Gill AJ, Eshleman JR, Pilarsky C, Scarpa A, Musgrove EA, Pearson JV, Biankin AV, Grimmond SM	Whole genomes redefine the mutational landscape of pancreatic cancer	Nature	2015 Feb 	Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal of malignancies and a major health burden. We performed whole-genome sequencing and copy number variation (CNV) analysis of 100 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs). Chromosomal rearrangements leading to gene disruption were prevalent, affecting genes known to be important in pancreatic cancer (TP53, SMAD4, CDKN2A, ARID1A and ROBO2) and new candidate drivers of pancreatic carcinogenesis (KDM6A and PREX2). Patterns of structural variation (variation in chromosomal structure) classified PDACs into 4 subtypes with potential clinical utility: the subtypes were termed stable, locally rearranged, scattered and unstable. A significant proportion harboured focal amplifications, many of which contained druggable oncogenes (ERBB2, MET, FGFR1, CDK6, PIK3R3 and PIK3CA), but at low individual patient prevalence. Genomic instability co-segregated with inactivation of DNA maintenance genes (BRCA1, BRCA2 or PALB2) and a mutational signature of DNA damage repair deficiency. Of 8 patients who received platinum therapy, 4 of 5 individuals with these measures of defective DNA maintenance responded. 	Homo sapiens				>=42	2-3	Yes
26305789	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia	Array CGH	Hematopathology Unit, Hospital Clinic Institut d'Investigacions Biomediques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain	Salaverria I, Martin-Garcia D, Lopez C, Clot G, Garcia-Aragones M, Navarro A, Delgado J, Baumann T, Pinyol M, Martin-Guerrero I, Carrio A, Costa D, Queiros AC, Jayne S, Aymerich M, Villamor N, Colomer D, Gonzalez M, Lopez-Guillermo A, Campo E, Dyer MJ, Siebert R, Armengol L, Bea S	Detection of chromothripsis-like patterns with a custom array platform for chronic lymphocytic leukemia	Genes Chromosomes Cancer	2015 Nov	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a common disease with highly variable clinical course. Several recurrent chromosomal alterations are associated with prognosis and may guide risk-adapted therapy. We have developed a targeted genome-wide array to provide a robust tool for ascertaining abnormalities in CLL and to overcome limitations of the 4-marker fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). DNA from 180 CLL patients were hybridized to the qChip Hemo array with a high density of probes covering commonly altered loci in CLL (11q22-q23, 13q14, and 17p13), nine focal regions (2p15-p16.1, 2p24.3, 2q13, 2q36.3-q37.1, 3p21.31, 8q24.21, 9p21.3, 10q24.32, and 18q21.32-q21.33) and two larger regions (6q14.1-q22.31 and 7q31.33-q33). Overall, 86% of the cases presented copy number alterations (CNA) by array. There was a high concordance of array findings with FISH (84% sensitivity, 100% specificity); all discrepancies corresponded to subclonal alterations detected only by FISH. A chromothripsis-like pattern was detected in eight cases. Three showed concomitant shattered 5p with gain of TERT along with isochromosome 17q. Presence of 11q loss was associated with shorter time to first treatment (P = 0.003), whereas 17p loss, increased genomic complexity, and chromothripsis were associated with shorter overall survival (P < 0.001, P = 0.001, and P = 0.02, respectively). In conclusion, we have validated a targeted array for the diagnosis of CLL that accurately detects, in a single experiment, all relevant CNAs, genomic complexity, chromothripsis, copy number neutral loss of heterozygosity, and CNAs not covered by the FISH panel. This test may be used as a practical tool to stratify CLL patients for routine diagnostics or clinical trials.	Homo sapiens	GSE66923			>=14	2-3	NA
26337081	Research	Prostate cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA	Kovtun IV, Murphy SJ, Johnson SH, Cheville JC, Vasmatzis G	Chromosomal catastrophe is a frequent event in clinically insignificant prostate cancer	Oncotarget	2015 Oct	Massive genomic rearrangements, a result of single catastrophic event termed chromothrispsis or chromosomal catastrophe, have been identified in a variety of human cancers. In a few cancer types, chromothripsis was found to be associated with poor prognosis. We performed mate-pair sequencing and analysis of structural rearrangements in 132 prostate cancer cases which included clinically insignificant Gleason score 6 tumors, clinically significant tumors of higher grade (7+) and high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. Chromothripsis was observed at least 30 per cent of the samples across different grades. Surprisingly, it was frequently observed in clinically insignificant Gleason score 6 tumors, indicating that chromothripsis does not define more aggressive phenotype. The degree of chromothripsis did not increase significantly in tumors of advanced grades and did not appear to contribute to tumor progression. Our data showed that distribution of chromothriptic rearrangements differed from that of fragile sites but correlated with the size of chromosomes. We also provided evidence that rearrangements resulting from chromothripsis were present in the cells of neighboring Gleason patterns of the same tumor. Our data suggest that that chromothripsis plays role in prostate cancer initiation.	Homo sapiens				>=12	2	NA
26168399	Research	Small cell lung cancers	Next Generation Sequencing		George J, Lim JS, Jang SJ, Cun Y, Ozretic L, Kong G, Leenders F, Lu X, Fernandez-Cuesta L, Bosco G, Muller C, Dahmen I, Jahchan NS, Park KS, Yang D, Karnezis AN, Vaka D, Torres A, Wang MS, Korbel JO, Menon R, Chun SM, Kim D, Wilkerson M, Hayes N, Engelmann D, Putzer B, Bos M, Michels S, Vlasic I, Seidel D, Pinther B, Schaub P, Becker C, Altmuller J, Yokota J, Kohno T, Iwakawa R, Tsuta K, Noguchi M, Muley T, Hoffmann H, Schnabel PA, Petersen I, Chen Y, Soltermann A, Tischler V, Choi CM, Kim YH, Massion PP, Zou Y, Jovanovic D, Kontic M, Wright GM, Russell PA, Solomon B, Koch I, Lindner M, Muscarella LA, la Torre A, Field JK, Jakopovic M, Knezevic J, Castanos-Velez E, Roz L, Pastorino U, Brustugun OT, Lund-Iversen M, Thunnissen E, Kohler J, Schuler M, Botling J, Sandelin M, Sanchez-Cespedes M, Salvesen HB, Achter V, Lang U, Bogus M, Schneider PM, Zander T, Ansen S, Hallek M, Wolf J, Vingron M, Yatabe Y, Travis WD, Nurnberg P, Reinhardt C, Perner S, Heukamp L, Buttner R, Haas SA, Brambilla E, Peifer M, Sage J, Thomas RK	Comprehensive genomic profiles of small cell lung cancer	Nature	2015 Aug	We have sequenced the genomes of 110 small cell lung cancers (SCLC), one of the deadliest human cancers. In nearly all the tumours analysed we found bi-allelic inactivation of TP53 and RB1, sometimes by complex genomic rearrangements. Two tumours with wild-type RB1 had evidence of chromothripsis leading to overexpression of cyclin D1 (encoded by the CCND1 gene), revealing an alternative mechanism of Rb1 deregulation. Thus, loss of the tumour suppressors TP53 and RB1 is obligatory in SCLC. We discovered somatic genomic rearrangements of TP73 that create an oncogenic version of this gene, TP73DeltaEx2/3. In rare cases, SCLC tumours exhibited kinase gene mutations, providing a possible therapeutic opportunity for individual patients. Finally, we observed inactivating mutations in NOTCH family genes in 25% of human SCLC. Accordingly, activation of Notch signalling in a pre-clinical SCLC mouse model strikingly reduced the number of tumours and extended the survival of the mutant mice. Furthermore, neuroendocrine gene expression was abrogated by Notch activity in SCLC cells. This first comprehensive study of somatic genome alterations in SCLC uncovers several key biological processes and identifies candidate therapeutic targets in this highly lethal form of cancer.	Homo sapiens				>=19	2-3	NA
26415501	Methodology	hTERT RPE-1 cell line	Next Generation Sequencing	European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany	Mardin BR, Drainas AP, Waszak SM, Weischenfeldt J, Isokane M, Stutz AM, Raeder B, Efthymiopoulos T, Buccitelli C, Segura-Wang M, Northcott P, Pfister SM, Lichter P, Ellenberg J, Korbel JO	A cell-based model system links chromothripsis with hyperploidy	Molecular Systems Biology	2015 Sep	A remarkable observation emerging from recent cancer genome analyses is the identification of chromothripsis as a one-off genomic catastrophe, resulting in massive somatic DNA structural rearrangements (SRs). Largely due to lack of suitable model systems, the mechanistic basis of chromothripsis has remained elusive. We developed an integrative method termed complex alterations after selection and transformation (CAST), enabling efficient in vitro generation of complex DNA rearrangements including chromothripsis, using cell perturbations coupled with a strong selection barrier followed by massively parallel sequencing. We employed this methodology to characterize catastrophic SR formation processes, their temporal sequence, and their impact on gene expression and cell division. Our in vitro system uncovered a propensity of chromothripsis to occur in cells with damaged telomeres, and in particular in hyperploid cells. Analysis of primary medulloblastoma cancer genomes verified the link between hyperploidy and chromothripsis in vivo. CAST provides the foundation for mechanistic dissection of complex DNA rearrangement processes.	Homo sapiens			PRJEB8037	>=22	2-5	Yes
26328271	Research	Glioblastoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology and UC Brain Tumor Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH, USA	Furgason JM, Koncar RF, Michelhaugh SK, Sarkar FH, Mittal S, Sloan AE, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Bahassi el M	Whole genome sequence analysis links chromothripsis to EGFR, MDM2, MDM4, and CDK4 amplification in glioblastoma	Oncoscience	2015 Jul	BACKGROUND: Findings based on recent advances in next-generation sequence analysis suggest that, in some tumors, a single catastrophic event, termed chromothripsis, results in several simultaneous tumorigenic alterations. Previous studies have suggested that glioblastoma (GBM) may exhibit chromothripsis at a higher rate (39%) than other tumors (9%). Primary glioblastoma is an aggressive form of brain cancer that typically appears suddenly in older adults. With aggressive treatment, the median survival time is only 15 months. Their acute onset and widespread genomic instability indicates that chromothripsis may play a key role in their initiation and progression. GBMs are often characterized by EGFR amplification, CDKN2A and PTEN deletion, although approximately 20% of GBMs harbor additional amplifications in MDM2 or MDM4 with CDK4. METHODS: We used the chromothripsis prediction tool, Shatterproof, in conjunction with a custom whole genome sequence analysis pipeline in order to generate putative regions of chromothripsis. The data derived from this study was further expanded on using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis and susceptibility studies with colony formation assays. RESULTS: We show that primary GBMs are associated with higher chromothripsis scores and establish a link between chromothripsis and gene amplification of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), as well as modulators of the TP53 and RB1 pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Utilizing a newly introduced bioinformatic tool, we provide evidence that chromothripsis is associated with the formation of amplicons containing several oncogenes involved in key pathways that are likely essential for post-chromothriptic cell survival.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
26520389	Research	Hodgkin lymphoma		Laboratory of Health Physics, Radiobiology & Cytogenetics, Institute of Nuclear & Radiological Sciences & Technology, Energy & Safety, National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, Athens, Greece	Terzoudi GI, Karakosta M, Pantelias A, Hatzi VI, Karachristou I, Pantelias G	Stress induced by premature chromatin condensation triggers chromosome shattering and chromothripsis atDNA sites still replicating in micronuclei or multinucleate cells when primary nuclei enter mitosis	Mutation Research-Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis	2015 Nov	Combination of next-generation DNA sequencing, single nucleotide polymorphism array analyses and bioinformatics has revealed the striking phenomenon of chromothripsis, described as complex genomic rearrangements acquired in a single catastrophic event affecting one or a few chromosomes. Via an unproven mechanism, it is postulated that mechanical stress causes chromosome shattering into small lengths of DNA, which are then randomly reassembled by DNA repair machinery. Chromothripsis is currently examined as an alternative mechanism of oncogenesis, in contrast to the present paradigm that considers a stepwise development of cancer. While evidence for the mechanism(s) underlying chromosome shattering during cancer development remains elusive, a number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain chromothripsis, including ionizing radiation, DNA replication stress, breakage-fusion-bridge cycles, micronuclei formation and premature chromosome compaction. In the present work, we provide experimental evidence on the mechanistic basis of chromothripsis and on how chromosomes can get locally shattered in a single catastrophic event. Considering the dynamic nature of chromatin nucleoprotein complex, capable of rapid unfolding, disassembling, assembling and refolding, we first show that chromatin condensation at repairing or replicating DNA sites induces the mechanical stress needed for chromosome shattering to ensue. Premature chromosome condensation is then used to visualize the dynamic nature of interphase chromatin and demonstrate that such mechanical stress and chromosome shattering can also occur in chromosomes within micronuclei or asynchronous multinucleate cells when primary nuclei enter mitosis. Following an aberrant mitosis, chromosomes could find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time so that they may undergo massive DNA breakage and rearrangement in a single catastrophic event. Specifically, our results support the hypothesis that premature chromosome condensation induces mechanical stress and triggers shattering and chromothripsis in chromosomes or chromosome arms still undergoing DNA replication or repair in micronuclei or asynchronous multinucleate cells, when primary nuclei enter mitosis.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
23713010	Review and Opinion			Department of Medicine; Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine; University of Washington School of Medicine; Seattle, WA USA	Maxwel M. Krem1, Marshall S. Horwitz	Mitotic errors, aneuploidy and micronuclei in Hodgkin lymphoma pathogenesis	Commun Integr Biol	2013 May	The Reed-Sternberg (RS) cell is the driving force behind Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), a unique malignancy in which the rare RS cell creates an inflammatory microenvironment that recruits a reactive tumor infiltrate. Well-known oncogenic factors such as nuclear factor kappa B (NFkappaB) signaling and Epstein-Barr virus infection are linked to HL pathogenesis but do not adequately explain the RS cell's key pathologic features of multi-nucleation, abnormalities of centrosome function and number and aneuploidy. Chromosomal instability is also considered a key pathway in the origin of the RS cell, though the molecular mechanisms have largely been a black box. We demonstrated that the midbody kelch domain protein KLHDC8B protects against mitotic errors, centrosomal amplification and chromosomal instability. Here we discuss how the new findings linking KLHDC8B to mitoticintegrity and faithful chromosomal segregation are providing mechanistic explanations for the origin of the RS cell and the molecular pathogenesis of chromosomal instability in HL.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
23759584	Methodology			Biocomputation Group; Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia-CSIC; Madrid, Spain	Carlos Oscar Sanchez Solorzano, Alberto Pascual-Montano, Ainhoa Sanchez de Diego, Carlos Martinez-A, Karel H.M. van Wely	Chromothripsis: Breakage-fusion-bridge over and over again	Cell Cycle	2013 Jun	The acquisition of massive but localized chromosome translocations, a phenomenon termed chromothripsis, has received widespread attention since its discovery over a year ago. Until recently, chromothripsis was believed to originate from a single catastrophic event, but the molecular mechanisms leading to this event are yet to be uncovered. Because a thorough interpretation of the data are missing, the phenomenon itself has wrongly acquired the status of a mechanism used to justify many kinds of complex rearrangements. Although the assumption that all translocations in chromothripsisoriginate from a single event has met with criticism, satisfactory explanations for the intense but localized nature of this phenomenon are still missing. Here, we show why the data used to describe massive catastrophic rearrangements are incompatible with a model comprising a single event only and propose a molecular mechanism in which a combination of known cellular pathways accounts for chromothripsis. Instead of a single traumatic event, the protection of undamaged chromosomes by telomeres can limit repetitive breakage-fusion-bridge events to a single chromosome arm. Ultimately, common properties of chromosomal instability, such as aneuploidy and centromere fission, might establish the complex genetic pattern observed in this genomic state.					NA	NA	NA
24282781	Review and Opinion			Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA	German A. Pihan	Centrosome dysfunction contributes to chromosome instability, chromoanagenesis, and genome reprograming in cancer	Front Oncol	2013 Nov	The unique ability of centrosomes to nucleate and organize microtubules makes them unrivaled conductors of important interphase processes, such as intracellular payload traffic, cell polarity, cell locomotion, and organization of the immunologic synapse. But it is in mitosis that centrosomes loom large, for they orchestrate, with clockmaker's precision, the assembly and functioning of the mitotic spindle, ensuring the equal partitioning of the replicated genome into daughter cells. Centrosome dysfunction is inextricably linked to aneuploidy and chromosome instability, both hallmarks of cancer cells. Several aspects of centrosome function in normal and cancer cells have been molecularly characterized during the last two decades, greatly enhancing our mechanistic understanding of this tiny organelle. Whether centrosome defects alone can cause cancer, remains unanswered. Until recently, the aggregate of the evidence had suggested that centrosome dysfunction, by deregulating the fidelity of chromosome segregation, promotes and accelerates the characteristic Darwinian evolution of the cancer genome enabled by increased mutational load and/or decreased DNA repair. Very recent experimental work has shown that missegregated chromosomes resulting from centrosome dysfunction may experience extensive DNA damage, suggesting additional dimensions to the role of centrosomes in cancer. Centrosome dysfunction is particularly prevalent in tumors in which the genome has undergone extensive structural rearrangements and chromosome domain reshuffling. Ongoing gene reshuffling reprograms the genome for continuous growth, survival, and evasion of the immune system. Manipulation of molecular networks controlling centrosome function may soon become a viable target for specific therapeutic intervention in cancer, particularly since normal cells, which lack centrosome alterations, may be spared the toxicity of such therapies.					NA	NA	NA
24305569	Review and Opinion	Colorectal cancer		Department of Medical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht and bDepartment of Oncogenomics, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Wigard P. Kloosterman, Jan Koster, and Jan J. Molenaar	Prevalence and clinical implications of chromothripsis in cancer genomes	Curr Opin Oncol	2014 Jan	PURPOSE OF REVIEW: A variety of mutational mechanisms shape the landscape of somatic mutations in cancer genomes. Although the contribution of single nucleotide mutations is well studied, getting a hold of structural genomic rearrangements is more difficult due to their complexity and diversity in sizes and classes. Here, we discuss the incidence of complex genomic rearrangements and their impact on cancer development and progression. RECENT FINDINGS: Catastrophic genome rearrangements have recently been described in various cancer genomes. Such complex genomic rearrangements may be a result of local shattering of chromosomes followed by reassembly of DNA fragments, a process termed chromothripsis. In addition, DNA replication errors may lead to complex genomic rearrangements in cancer. Complex reshuffling of chromosomes can cause formation of gene fusions, disruption of tumor suppressors, and amplification of oncogenes. Furthermore, the occurrence of chromothripsis has been associated with poor prognosis in neuroblastoma, melanoma, and multiple myeloma. SUMMARY: Complex genomic rearrangements, such as chromothripsis, may affect cancer gene function and thereby have a major impact on cancer progression, prognosis, and therapy response.					NA	NA	NA
24187453	Review and Opinion			MRC Cancer Evolution Research Center, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, South Korea	Tae-Min Kim, Sug-Hyung Lee, Yeun-Jun Chung	Clinical applications of next-generation sequencing in colorectal cancers	World J Gastroenterol	2013 Oct	Like other solid tumors, colorectal cancer (CRC) is a genomic disorder in which various types of genomic alterations, such as point mutations, genomic rearrangements, gene fusions, or chromosomal copy number alterations, can contribute to the initiation and progression of the disease. The advent of a new DNA sequencing technology known as next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized the speed and throughput of cataloguing such cancer-related genomic alterations. Now the challenge is how to exploit this advanced technology to better understand the underlying molecular mechanism of colorectal carcinogenesis and to identify clinically relevant genetic biomarkers for diagnosis and personalized therapeutics. In this review, we will introduce NGS-based cancer genomics studies focusing on those of CRC, including a recent large-scale report from the Cancer Genome Atlas. We will mainly discuss how NGS-based exome-, whole genome- and methylome-sequencing have extended our understanding of colorectal carcinogenesis. We will also introduce the unique genomic features of CRC discovered by NGS technologies, such as the relationship with bacterial pathogens and the massive genomic rearrangements of chromothripsis. Finally, we will discuss the necessary steps prior to development of a clinical application of NGS-related findings for the advanced management of patients with CRC.					NA	NA	NA
24298051	Review and Opinion			Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA	Cheng-Zhong Zhang, Mitchell L. Leibowitz, David Pellman	Chromothripsis and beyond: rapid genome evolution from complex chromosomal rearrangements	Genes Dev	2013 Dec	Recent genome sequencing studies have identified several classes of complex genomic rearrangements that appear to be derived from a single catastrophic event. These discoveries identify ways that genomes can be altered in single large jumps rather than by many incremental steps. Here we compare and contrast these phenomena and examine the evidence that they arise "all at once." We consider the impact of massive chromosomal change for the development of diseases such as cancer and for evolution more generally. Finally, we summarize current models for underlying mechanisms and discuss strategies for testing these models.					NA	NA	NA
23730541	Review and Opinion			Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, New Research Building, Room 160D, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA 02115, USA	Benjamin B. Currall, Colby Chiangmai, Michael E. Talkowski, Cynthia C. Morton	Mechanisms for Structural Variation in the Human Genome	Curr Genet Med Rep	2013 Jun	It has been known for several decades that genetic variation involving changes to chromosomal structure (i.e., structural variants) can contribute to disease; however this relationship has been brought into acute focus in recent years largely based on innovative new genomics approaches and technology. Structural variants (SVs) arise from improperly repaired DNA double-strand breaks (DSB). DSBs are a frequent occurrence in all cells and two major pathways are involved in their repair: homologous recombination and non-homologous end joining. Errors during these repair mechanismscan result in SVs that involve losses, gains and rearrangements ranging from a few nucleotides to entire chromosomal arms. Factors such as rearrangements, hotspots and induced DSBs are implicated in the formation of SVs. While de novo SVs are often associated with disease, some SVs are conserved within human subpopulations and may have had a meaningful influence on primate evolution. As the ability to sequence the wholehuman genome rapidly evolves, the diversity of SVs is illuminated, including very complex rearrangements involving multiple DSBs in a process recently designated as chromothripsis. Elucidating mechanisms involved in the etiology of SVs informs disease pathogenesis as well as the dynamic function associated with the biology and evolution of human genomes.					NA	NA	NA
24452388	Review and Opinion			Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, New Research Building, Room 160D, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA 02115, USA	Franck Pellestor	Chromothripsis: how does such a catastrophic event impact human reproduction 	Hum Reprod	2014 Jan	The recent discovery of a new kind of massive chromosomal rearrangement, baptized chromothripsis (chromo for chromosomes, thripsis for shattering into pieces), greatly modifies our understanding of molecular mechanisms implicated in the repair of DNA damage and the genesis of complex chromosomal rearrangements. Initially described in cancers, and then in constitutional rearrangements, chromothripsis is characterized by the shattering of one (or a few) chromosome(s) segments followed by a chaotic reassembly of the chromosomal fragments, occurring during one unique cellular event. The diversity and the high complexity of chromothripsis events raise questions about their origin, their ties to chromosome instability and their impact in pathology. Several causative mechanisms, involving abortive apoptosis, telomere erosion, mitotic errors, micronuclei formation and p53 inactivation, have been proposed. The remarkable point is that all these mechanisms have been identified in the field of human reproduction as causal factors for reproductive failures and chromosomal abnormalities. Consequently, it seems important to consider this unexpected catastrophicphenomenon in the context of fertilization and early embryonic development in order to discuss its potential impact on human reproduction.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
23804754	Review and Opinion			Institute of Medical Radiation Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen Medical School, 45122 Essen, Germany	Agnes Schipler, George Iliakis	DNA double-strand-break complexity levels and their possible contributions to the probability for error-prone processing and repair pathway choice	Nucleic Acids Res	2013 Jun	Although the DNA double-strand break (DSB) is defined as a rupture in the double-stranded DNA molecule that can occur without chemical modification in any of the constituent building blocks, it is recognized that this form is restricted to enzyme-induced DSBs. DSBs generated by physical or chemical agents can include at the break site a spectrum of base alterations (lesions). The nature and number of such chemical alterations define the complexity of the DSB and are considered putative determinants for repair pathway choice and the probability that errors will occur during this processing. As the pathways engaged in DSB processing show distinct and frequently inherent propensities for errors, pathway choice also defines the error-levels cells opt to accept. Here, we present a classification of DSBs on the basis of increasing complexity and discuss how complexity may affect processing, as well as how it may cause lethal or carcinogenic processing errors. By critically analyzing the characteristics of DSB repair pathways, we suggest that all repair pathways can in principle remove lesions clustering at the DSB but are likely to fail when they encounter clusters of DSBs that cause a local form of chromothripsis. In the same framework, we also analyze the rational of DSB repair pathway choice.					NA	NA	NA
23744564	Review and Opinion			Vancouver Prostate Center and Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.	Wyatt AW, Collins CC	In Brief: Chromothripsis and cancer	J Pathol	2013 Sep	Chromothripsis is a one-step catastrophic event which plays an important role during cancer development. During chromothripsis, tens to hundreds of genomic rearrangements can occur within localized regions of the genome, and lead to the simultaneous creation of multiple cancer-driving aberrations. Given that chromothripsis has a cancer-wide incidence of 2-3%, its recent discovery has significant implications for our understanding of tumour biology and evolution.					NA	NA	NA
22440479	Review and Opinion			Department of Molecular andHumanGenetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA	Pengfei Liu, Claudia MB Carvalho, PJ Hastings, James R Lupski	Mechanisms for recurrent and complex human genomic rearrangements	Curr Opin Genet Dev	2012 Jun	During the last two decades, the importance of human genome copy number variation (CNV) in disease has become widely recognized. However, much is not understood about underlying mechanisms. We show how, although model organism research guides molecular understanding, important insights are gained from study of the wealth of information available in the clinic. We describe progress in explaining nonallelic homologous recombination (NAHR), a major cause of copy number change occurring when control of allelic recombination fails, highlight the growing importance of replicative mechanisms to explain complex events, and describe progress in understanding extreme chromosome reorganization (chromothripsis). Both nonhomologous end-joining and aberrant replication have significant roles in chromothripsis. As we study CNV, the processes underlying human genome evolution are revealed.					NA	NA	NA
23327985	Review and Opinion			Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oregon Health & Science University, Knight Cancer Institute, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239, USA	Nathan Donley, Mathew J. Thayer	DNA replication timing, genome stability and cancer Late and/or delayed DNA replication timing is associated with increased genomic instability	Semin Cancer Biol	2013 Apr	Normal cellular division requires that the genome be faithfully replicated to ensure that unaltered genomic information is passed from one generation to the next. DNA replication initiates from thousands of origins scattered throughout the genome every cell cycle; however, not all origins initiate replication at the same time. A vast amount of work over the years indicates that different origins along each eukaryotic chromosome are activated in early, middle or late S phase. This temporal control of DNA replication is referred to as the replication-timing program. The replication-timing program represents a very stable epigenetic feature of chromosomes. Recent evidence has indicated that the replication-timing program can influence the spatial distribution of mutagenic events such that certain regions of the genome experience increased spontaneous mutagenesis compared to surrounding regions. This influence has helped shape the genomes of humans and other multicellular organisms and can affect the distribution of mutations in somatic cells. It is also becoming clear that the replication-timing program is deregulated in many disease states, including cancer. Aberrant DNA replication timing is associated with changes in gene expression, changes in epigenetic modifications and an increased frequency of structural rearrangements. Furthermore, certain replication timing changes can directly lead to overt genomic instability and may explain unique mutational signatures that are present in cells that have undergone the recently described processes of chromothripsis and kataegis. In this review, we will discuss how the normal replication timing program, as well as how alterations to this program, can contribute to the evolution of the genomic landscape in normal and cancerous cells.					NA	NA	NA
25439810	Review and Opinion			Laboratory of Chromosomal Genetics, Department of Medical Genetics, Arnaud de Villeneuve Hospital, Montpellier CHRU	Pellestor F, Gatinois V, Puechberty J, Genevieve D, Lefort G.	Chromothripsis: potential origin in gametogenesis and preimplantation cell divisions. A review	Fertil Steril	2014 Dec	OBJECTIVE: To review the discovery of chromothripsis and analyze its impact on human reproduction. DESIGN: Database and literature analysis. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENT(S): Carriers of massive and complex chromosomal rearrangements. INTERVENTION(S): Cytogenetic analysis and molecular testing (fluorescence in situ hybridization, microarray, whole-genome sequencing). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Chromothripsis occurrence in human gametes and preimplantation embryos, with regard to the potential causative mechanisms described in literature. RESULT(S): Databases were searched for the literature published up to March 2014. Chromothripsis is characterized by the shattering of one (or a few) chromosome segments followed by a haphazard reassembly of the fragments generated, arising through a single initial catastrophic event. Several mechanisms involving abortive apoptosis, telomere erosion, mitotic errors, micronuclei formation, and p53 inactivation might cause chromothripsis. The remarkable point is that all these plausible mechanisms have been identified in the field of human reproduction as causal factors for reproductive failures and the genesis of chromosomal abnormalities. Specific features of gametogenesis and early embryonic development such as the weakness of cell cycle and mitosis checkpoints and the rapid kinetics of division in germ cells and early cleavage embryos may contribute to the emergence of chromothripsis. CONCLUSION(S): The discovery of this new class of massive chromosomal rearrangement has deeply modified our understanding on the genesis of complex genomic rearrangements. Data presented in this review support the assumption that chromothripsis could operate in human germlines and during early embryonic development. Chromothripsis might arise more frequently than previously thought in both gametogenesis and early human embryogenesis.					NA	NA	NA
25989073	Review and Opinion	Pediatric cancer		Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.	Hatch EM, Hetzer MW.	Chromothripsis	Curr Biol	2015 May	Hatch and Hetzer provide an introduction to chromothripsis - 'chromosome shattering' - and its involvement in cancer.					NA	NA	NA
25982339	Review and Opinion	Acute lymphoblastic leukemia		Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Clinical Immunology, University Children's Hospital, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University, Moorenstr. 5, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany	Kuhlen M, Borkhardt A	Cancer susceptibility syndromes in children in the area of broad clinical use of massive parallel sequencing.	Eur J Pediatr	2015 May	Children diagnosed with cancer are considered for inherited cancer susceptibility testing according to well-established clinical criteria. With increasing efforts to personalize cancer medicine, comprehensive genome analyses will find its way into daily clinical routine in pediatric oncology. Whole genome and exome sequencing unavoidably generates incidental findings. The somatic molecular make-up of a tumor genome may suggest a germline mutation in a cancer susceptibility syndrome. At least two mechanisms are well-known, (a) chromothripsis (Li-Fraumeni syndrome) and (b) a high total number of mutational events which exceeds that of other samples of the same tumor type (defective DNA mismatch repair). Hence, pediatricians are faced with the fact that genetic events within the tumor genome itself can point toward underlying germline cancer susceptibility. Whenever genetic testing including next-generation sequencing (NGS) is initiated, the pediatrician has to inform about the benefits, risks, and alternatives, discuss the possibility of incidental findings and its disclosure, and to obtain informed consent prior to testing. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic testing and translational research in pediatric oncology can incidentally uncover an underlying cancer susceptibility syndrome with implications for the entire family. Pediatricians should therefore increase their awareness of chances and risks that accompany the increasingly wide clinical implementation of NGS platforms. What is Known: The proportion of cancers in children attributable to an underlying genetic syndrome or inherited susceptibility is unclear. Pediatricians consider children diagnosed with cancer for inherited cancer susceptibility according to well-established clinical criteria. What is New: Genetic testing of tumor samples can incidentally uncover an underlying cancer susceptibility syndrome. Findings in tumor genetics can be indicative that the tumor arose on the basis of the child's germline alteration, (a) chromothripsis and (b) a high total number of mutational events which exceeds that of other samples of the same tumor type.					NA	NA	NA
25608562	Methodology		Next Generation Sequencing	Leukaemia Research Cytogenetics Group, Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom	Harrison CJ	Blood Spotlight on iAMP21 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a high-risk pediatric disease.	Blood	2015 Feb	Intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 (iAMP21) defines a distinct cytogenetic subgroup of childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Breakage-fusion-bridge cycles followed by chromothripsis and other complex structural rearrangements of chromosome 21 underlie the mechanism giving rise to iAMP21. Patients with iAMP21 are older (median age 9 years), with a low white cell count. They have a high relapse rate when treated as standard risk. Recent studies have shown improved outcome on intensive therapy. Molecular targets for therapy are being sought.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
25572114	Methodology			Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA	Weinreb C, Oesper L, Raphael BJ	Open adjacencies and k-breaks: detecting simultaneous rearrangements in cancer genomes.	BMC Genomics	2014 Oct	BACKGROUND: The evolution of a cancer genome has traditionally been described as a sequential accumulation of mutations - including chromosomal rearrangements - over a period of time. Recent research suggests, however, that numerous rearrangements may be acquired simultaneously during a single cataclysmic event, leading to the proposal of new mechanisms of rearrangement such as chromothripsis and chromoplexy. RESULTS: We introduce two measures, open adjacency rate (OAR) and copy-number asymmetry enrichment (CAE), that assess the prevalence of simultaneously formed breakpoints, or k-breaks with k >2, compared to the sequential accumulation of standard rearrangements, or 2-breaks. We apply the OAR and the CAE to genome sequencing data from 121 cancer genomes from two different studies. CONCLUSIONS: We find that the OAR and CAE correlate well with previous analyses of chromothripsis/chromoplexy but make differing predictions on a small subset of genomes. These results lend support to the existence of simultaneous rearrangements, but also demonstrate the difficulty of characterizing such rearrangements using different criterion.					NA	NA	NA
26017310	Methodology		Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA	Zhang CZ, Spektor A, Cornils H, Francis JM, Jackson EK, Liu S, Meyerson M, Pellman D	Chromothripsis from DNA damage in micronuclei.	Nature	2015 Jun	Genome sequencing has uncovered a new mutational phenomenon in cancer and congenital disorders called chromothripsis. Chromothripsis is characterized by extensive genomic rearrangements and an oscillating pattern of DNA copy number levels, all curiously restricted to one or a few chromosomes. The mechanism for chromothripsis is unknown, but we previously proposed that it could occur through the physical isolation of chromosomes in aberrant nuclear structures called micronuclei. Here, using a combination of live cell imaging and single-cell genome sequencing, we demonstrate that micronucleus formation can indeed generate a spectrum of genomic rearrangements, some of which recapitulate all known features of chromothripsis. These events are restricted to the mis-segregated chromosome and occur within one cell division. We demonstrate that the mechanism for chromothripsis can involve the fragmentation and subsequent reassembly of a single chromatid from a micronucleus. Collectively, these experiments establish a new mutational process of which chromothripsis is one extreme outcome.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
26091034	Review and Opinion			Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, 92037 CA, USA	Hatch EM, Hetzer MW	Linking Micronuclei to Chromosome Fragmentation.	Cell	2015 Jun	Human cancer cells bear complex chromosome rearrangements that can be potential drivers of cancer development. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these rearrangements have been unclear. Zhang et al. use a new technique combining live-cell imaging and single-cell sequencing to demonstrate that chromosomes mis-segregated to micronuclei frequently undergo chromothripsis-like rearrangements in the subsequent cell cycle.					NA	NA	NA
26084493	Review and Opinion				Waldron D	Genome stability: Chromothripsis and micronucleus formation.	Nat Rev Genet	2015 Jun	It has generally been assumed that cancers arise through the accumulation of individual muta- tions over time; however, recent cancer genome sequence analyses suggest that multiple mutations can arise simultaneously during a single event such as chromothripsis, which results in extensive genomic rearrangements that are usually con- fined to a single chromosome. 					NA	NA	NA
21215363	Review and Opinion			Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115	Matthew Meyerson, David Pellman	Cancer Genomes Evolve by Pulverizing Single Chromosomes	Cell	2011 Jan	A report in this issue describes chromothripsis a new mechanism for genetic instability in cancer cells. Chromothripsis appears to be a cataclysmic event in which a single chromosome is fragmented and then reassembled. The phenomenon raises important questions of how chromosome rearrangements can be confined to defined genome segments.					NA	NA	NA
22265399	Review and Opinion			The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA	Maher CA, Wilson RK	Chromothripsis and Human Disease: Piecing Together the Shattering Process	Cell	2012 Jan	The unprecedented resolution of high-throughput genomics has enabled the recent discovery of a phenomenon by which specific regions of the genome are shattered and then stitched together via a single devastating event, referred to as chromothripsis. Potential mechanisms governing this process are now emerging, with implications for our understanding of the role of genomic rearrangements in development and disease.					NA	NA	NA
23498933	Methodology			Genome Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg	Korbel JO, Campbell PJ	Criteria for Inference of Chromothripsis in Cancer Genomes	Cell	2013 Mar	Chromothripsis scars the genome when localized chromosome shattering and repair occurs in a one-off catastrophe. Outcomes of this process are detectable as massive DNA rearrangements affecting one or a few chromosomes. Although recent findings suggest a crucial role of chromothripsis in cancer development, the reproducible inference of this process remains challenging, requiring that cataclysmic one-off rearrangements be distinguished from localized lesions that occur progressively. We describe conceptual criteria for the inference of chromothripsis, based on ruling out the alternative hypothesis that stepwise rearrangements occurred. Robust means of inference may facilitate in-depth studies on the impact of, and the mechanisms underlying, chromothripsis.					NA	NA	NA
23153487	Review and Opinion			Molecular Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA	Jones MJ, Jallepalli PV	Chromothripsis: Chromosomes in Crisis	Cell	2012 Nov	During oncogenesis, cells acquire multiple genetic alterations that confer essential tumor-specific traits, including immortalization, escape from antimitogenic signaling, neovascularization, invasiveness, and metastatic potential. In most instances, these alterations are thought to arise incrementally over years, if not decades. However, recent progress in sequencing cancer genomes has begun to challenge this paradigm, because a radically different phenomenon, termed chromothripsis, has been suggested to cause complex intra- and interchromosomal rearrangements on short timescales. In this Review, we review established pathways crucial for genome integrity and discuss how their dysfunction could precipitate widespread chromosome breakage and rearrangement in the course of malignancy.					NA	NA	NA
22901976	Review and Opinion			Cancer Biology and Pharmacology, Genome Institute of Singapore, 60 Biopolis Street, Genome, Singapore 138672, Singapore	Inaki K, Liu ET	Structural mutations in cancer: mechanistic and functional insights	Trends Genet	2012 Nov	Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has enabled the comprehensive and precise identification of many somatic structural mutations in cancer. Analyses integrating point mutation information with data on rearrangements and copy number variation have revealed a higher-order organization of the seemingly random genetic events that lead to cancer. These meta-analyses provide a more refined view of the mutational mechanisms, genomic evolution, and combinations of mutations that contribute to tumorigenesis. Structural mutations, or genome-scale rearrangements of segments of DNA, may play a hitherto unappreciated role in cancer through their ability to move blocks of adjacent genes simultaneously, leading to concurrent oncogenic events. Moreover, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data from tumors have revealed global rearrangements, such as those seen in the tandem duplicator phenotype and in chromothripsis, suggesting that massive rearrangements are a specific cancer phenotype. Taken together, the emerging data suggest that the chromosome structure itself functions as a systems oncogenic organizer.					NA	NA	NA
23266571	Review and Opinion			Lab of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, National Research Council Canada, Montreal, Canada; McGill University Center for Bioinformatics, Montreal, Canada.	Edwin Wang	Understanding genomic alterations in cancer genomes using an integrative network approach	Cancer Lett	2013 Nov	In recent years, cancer genome sequencing and other high-throughput studies of cancer genomes have generated many notable discoveries. In this review, novel genomic alteration mechanisms, such as chromothripsis (chromosomal crisis) and kataegis (mutation storms), and their implications for cancer are discussed. Genomic alterations spur cancer genome evolution. Thus, the relationship between cancer clonal evolution and cancer stems cells is commented. The key question in cancer biology concerns how these genomic alterations support cancer development and metastasis in the context of biological functioning. Thus far, efforts such as pathway analysis have improved the understanding of the functional contributions of genetic mutations and DNA copy number variations to cancer development, progression and metastasis. However, the known pathways correspond to a small fraction, plausibly 5-10%, of somatic mutations and genes with an altered copy number. To develop a comprehensive understanding of the function of these genomic alterations in cancer, an integrative network framework is proposed and discussed. Finally, the challenges and the directions of studying cancer omic data using an integrative network approach are commented.					NA	NA	NA
23478216	Review and Opinion			Department of Medical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universiteitsweg 100, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands	Kloosterman WP, Cuppen E	Chromothripsis in congenital disorders and cancer: similarities and differences	Curr Opin Cell Biol	2013 Jun	Genomic rearrangements may give rise to congenital disease and contribute to cancer development. Recent evidence has shown that very complex genomic rearrangements in cancer cells can result from a single catastrophic event of massive DNA breakage and repair, termed chromothripsis. This results in heavily rearranged chromosomes comprising frequent sequence losses. A very similar process of chromosome shattering is found for complex chromosome rearrangements in the germline of patients with congenital disorders. Here, we review the literature on chromothripsis in cancer and congenital disease. We describe differences and similarities for chromothripsis rearrangements in somatic tissue and the germ line and we discuss the cellular origin and molecular mechanisms of chromothripsis.					NA	NA	NA
21802523	Review and Opinion			Human DNA Damage Response Disorders Group, Genome Damage and Stability Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom	Colnaghi R, Carpenter G, Volker M, O'Driscoll M	The consequences of structural genomic alterations in humans: Genomic Disorders, genomic instability and cancer	Semin Cell Dev Biol	2011 Oct	Over the last decade or so, sophisticated technological advances in array-based genomics have firmly established the contribution of structural alterations in the human genome to a variety of complex developmental disorders, and also to diseases such as cancer. In fact, multiple 'novel' disorders have been identified as a direct consequence of these advances. Our understanding of the molecular events leading to the generation of these structural alterations is also expanding. Many of the models proposed to explain these complex rearrangements involve DNA breakage and the coordinated action of DNA replication, repair and recombination machinery. Here, and within the context of Genomic Disorders, we will briefly overview the principal models currently invoked to explain these chromosomal rearrangements, including Non-Allelic Homologous Recombination (NAHR), Fork Stalling Template Switching (FoSTeS), Microhomology Mediated Break-Induced Repair (MMBIR) and Breakage-fusion-bridge cycle (BFB). We will also discuss an unanticipated consequence of certain copy number variations (CNVs) whereby the CNVs potentially compromise fundamental processes controlling genomic stability including DNA replication and the DNA damage response. We will illustrate these using specific examples including Genomic Disorders (DiGeorge/Veleocardiofacial syndrome, HSA21 segmental aneuploidy and rec (3) syndrome) and cell-based model systems. Finally, we will review some of the recent exciting developments surrounding specific CNVs and their contribution to cancer development as well as the latest model for cancer genome rearrangement; 'chromothripsis'.					NA	NA	NA
22100908	Review and Opinion	Prostate cancer		Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM), U613, Brest, France	Chen JM, Ferec C, Cooper DN	Transient hypermutability, chromothripsis and replication-based mechanisms in the generation of concurrent clustered mutations	Mutat Res	2011 Nov	Clustered mutations may be broadly defined as the presence of two or more mutations within a spatially localized genomic region on a single chromosome. Known instances vary in terms of both the number and type of the component mutations, ranging from two closely spaced point mutations to tens or even hundreds of genomic rearrangements. Although clustered mutations can represent the observable net result of independent lesions sequentially acquired over multiple cell cycles, they can also be generated in a simultaneous or quasi-simultaneous manner within a single cell cycle. This review focuses on those mechanisms known to underlie the latter type. Both gene conversion and transient hypermutability are capable of generating closely spaced multiple mutations. However, a recently described phenomenon in human cancer cells, known as 'chromothripsis', has provided convincing evidence that tens to hundreds of genomic rearrangements can sometimes be generated simultaneously via a single catastrophic event. The distinctive genomic features observed in the derivative chromosomes, together with the highly characteristic junction sequences, point to non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) as being the likely underlying mutational mechanism. By contrast, replication-based mechanisms such as microhomology-mediated break-induced replication (MMBIR) which involves serial replication slippage or serial template switching probably account for those complex genomic rearrangements that comprise multiple duplications and/or triplications.					NA	NA	NA
23503423	Review and Opinion			Vancouver Prostate Centre & Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6H 3Z6, Canada	Wyatt AW, Mo F, Wang Y, Collins CC	The diverse heterogeneity of molecular alterations in prostate cancer identified through next-generation sequencing	Asian J Androl	2013 May	Prostate cancer is a leading cause of global cancer-related death but attempts to improve diagnoses and develop novel therapies have been confounded by significant patient heterogeneity. In recent years, the application of next-generation sequencing to hundreds of prostate tumours has defined novel molecular subtypes and characterized extensive genomic aberration underlying disease initiation and progression. It is now clear that the heterogeneity observed in the clinic is underpinned by a molecular landscape rife with complexity, where genomic rearrangements and rare mutations combine to amplify transcriptomic diversity. This review dissects our current understanding of prostate cancer 'omics', including the sentinel role of copy number variation, the growing spectrum of oncogenic fusion genes, the potential influence of chromothripsis, and breakthroughs in defining mutation-associated subtypes. Increasing evidence suggests that genomic lesions frequently converge on specific cellular functions and signalling pathways, yet recurrent gene aberration appears rare. Therefore, it is critical that we continue to define individual tumour genomes, especially in the context of their expressed transcriptome. Only through improved characterisation of tumour to tumour variability can we advance to an age of precision therapy and personalized oncology.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
21716293	Review and Opinion			The Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA	Stevens JB, Abdallah BY, Liu G, Ye CJ, Horne SD, Wang G, Savasan S, Shekhar M, Krawetz SA, Huttemann M, Tainsky MA, Wu GS, Xie Y, Zhang K, Heng HH	Diverse system stresses: common mechanisms of chromosome fragmentation	Cell Death Dis	2011 Jun	Chromosome fragmentation (C-Frag) is a newly identified MCD (mitotic cell death), distinct from apoptosis and MC (mitotic catastrophe). As different molecular mechanisms can induce C-Frag, we hypothesize that the general mechanism of its induction is a system response to cellular stress. A clear link between C-Frag and diverse system stresses generated from an array of molecular mechanisms is shown. Centrosome amplification, which is also linked to diverse mechanisms of stress, is shown to occur in association with C-Frag. This led to a new model showing that diverse stresses induce common, MCD. Specifically, different cellular stresses target the integral chromosomal machinery, leading to system instability and triggering of MCD by C-Frag. This model of stress-induced cell death is also applicable to other types of cell death. The current study solves the previously confusing relationship between the diverse molecular mechanisms of chromosome pulverization, suggesting that incomplete C-Frag could serve as the initial event responsible for forms of genome chaos including chromothripsis. In addition, multiple cell death types are shown to coexist with C-Frag and it is more dominant than apoptosis at lower drug concentrations. Together, this study suggests that cell death is a diverse group of highly heterogeneous events that are linked to stress-induced system instability and evolutionary potential.					NA	NA	NA
22811041	Review and Opinion			Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology, CancerCare Manitoba, Department of Physiology, the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada	Righolt C, Mai S	Shattered and stitched chromosomes-chromothripsis and chromoanasynthesis-manifestations of a new chromosome crisis?	Genes Chromosomes Cancer	2012 Nov	Chromothripsis (chromosome shattering) has been described as complex rearrangements affecting single chromosome(s) in one catastrophic event. The chromosomes would be shattered and stitched together during this event. This phenomenon is proposed to constitute the basis for complex chromosomal rearrangements seen in 2-3% of all cancers and in ~25% of bone cancers. Here we discuss chromothripsis, the use of this term and the evidence presented to support a single catastrophic event that remodels the genome in one step. We discuss why care should be taken in using the term chromothripsis and what evidence is lacking to support its use while describing complex rearrangements.					NA	NA	NA
23132910	Methodology	Uterine leiomyoma		Center for Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA	Kim TM, Xi R, Luquette LJ, Park RW, Johnson MD, Park PJ	Functional genomic analysis of chromosomal aberrations in a compendium of 8000 cancer genomes.	Genome Res	2013 Feb	A large database of copy number profiles from cancer genomes can facilitate the identification of recurrent chromosomal alterations that often contain key cancer-related genes. It can also be used to explore low-prevalence genomic events such as chromothripsis. In this study, we report an analysis of 8227 human cancer copy number profiles obtained from 107 array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) studies. Our analysis reveals similarity of chromosomal arm-level alterations among developmentally related tumor types as well as a number of co-occurring pairs of arm-level alterations. Recurrent (pan-lineage) focal alterations identified across diverse tumor types show an enrichment of known cancer-related genes and genes with relevant functions in cancer-associated phenotypes (e.g., kinase and cell cycle). Tumor type-specific (lineage-restricted) alterations and their enriched functional categories were also identified. Furthermore, we developed an algorithm for detecting regions in which the copy number oscillates rapidly between fixed levels, indicative of chromothripsis. We observed these massive genomic rearrangements in 1%-2% of the samples with variable tumor type-specific incidence rates. Taken together, our comprehensive view of copy number alterations provides a framework for understanding the functional significance of various genomic alterations in cancer genomes.					NA	NA	NA
25106763	Review and Opinion	Prostate cancer		Department of Medical Genetics and Genome-Scale Biology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland	Mehine M, Makinen N, Heinonen HR, Aaltonen LA, Vahteristo P	Genomics of uterine leiomyomas: insights from high-throughput sequencing.	Fertil Steril	2014 Sep	Uterine leiomyomas are benign smooth-muscle tumors of extremely low malignant potential. Early work utilizing classical cytogenetics revealed that a subset of uterine leiomyomas harbor recurrent chromosomal rearrangements, such as translocations affecting the HMGA2 gene. Our understanding of the genetics of many tumor types has deepened remarkably with the emergence of next-generation sequencing technologies. Exome sequencing identified that the majority of leiomyomas display highly specific MED12 mutations. Further studies suggest that these MED12 hotspot mutations are also frequent in breast fibroadenomas, but not in other human tumors. Whole-genome sequencing showed that a subset of leiomyomas display complex chromosomal rearrangements resembling chromothripsis. These were formed in a single event of chromosomal breakage and random reassembly involving one or a limited number of chromosomes. Although most leiomyomas have been shown to arise independently, these studies also revealed that distinct nodules within a uterus may display identical genetic changes indicating a common clonal origin. A minority of leiomyomas were also found to display deletions within the COL4A5-COL4A6 genes, leading to upregulation of the adjacent gene IRS4. The findings derived from high-throughput sequencing combined with previous knowledge have led to an emerging molecular classification of leiomyomas, suggesting that there are several distinct pathogenic pathways involved in leiomyoma formation. The evidence points to at least 4 molecular subclasses: leiomyomas with MED12 mutation, FH inactivation, HMGA2 overexpression, and COL4A6-COL4A5 deletion. Elucidating the molecular pathogenesis of leiomyomas should be relevant for developing treatments for this very common disease.					NA	NA	NA
24931269	Review and Opinion			Molecular Urooncology, Department of Urology, University of Heidelberg School of Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany	Tapia-Laliena MA, Korzeniewski N, Hohenfellner M, Duensing S	High-risk prostate cancer: a disease of genomic instability.	Urol Oncol	2014 Nov	OBJECTIVES: In this review, we will discuss the latest advances in our understanding of the relationship between the cellular DNA damage response and genomic instability in prostate cancer and the emerging possibilities to exploit these aberrations as prognostic biomarkers and guides for personalized patient management. METHODS: Important findings related to genomic instability in prostate cancer were retrieved from the literature and combined with our own results and a translational perspective. RESULTS: Prostate cancer is characterized by a highly altered genomic landscape with a wide spectrum of genomic alterations, including somatic mutations, copy number alterations (CNAs), gene fusions, complex chromosomal rearrangements, and aneuploidy. In addition, massive DNA damaging events, including chromothripsis and chromoplexy, which can lead to extensive genomic insults in a single step, have been identified. A number of these genomic aberrations have been found to provide prognostic information and can therefore help to identify high-risk patients. In addition, defects in the DNA damage checkpoint and repair machinery can potentially be harnessed for therapeutic purposes. CONCLUSIONS: Genomic instability plays a crucial role in the malignant progression of prostate cancer and can be exploited for the development of novel prognostic biomarkers and innovative therapies.					NA	NA	NA
24646301	Methodology			Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, M5G 0A3, Toronto, Canada	Govind SK, Zia A, Hennings-Yeomans PH, Watson JD, Fraser M, Anghel C, Wyatt AW, van der Kwast T, Collins CC, McPherson JD, Bristow RG, Boutros PC.	ShatterProof: operational detection and quantification of chromothripsis.	BMC Bioinformatics	2014 Mar	BACKGROUND: Chromothripsis, a newly discovered type of complex genomic rearrangement, has been implicated in the evolution of several types of cancers. To date, it has been described in bone cancer, SHH-medulloblastoma and acute myeloid leukemia, amongst others, however there are still no formal or automated methods for detecting or annotating it in high throughput sequencing data. As such, findings of chromothripsis are difficult to compare and many cases likely escape detection altogether. RESULTS: We introduce ShatterProof, a software tool for detecting and quantifying chromothriptic events. ShatterProof takes structural variation calls (translocations, copy-number variations, short insertions and loss of heterozygosity) produced by any algorithm and using an operational definition of chromothripsis performs robust statistical tests to accurately predict the presence and location of chromothriptic events. Validation of our tool was conducted using clinical data sets including matched normal, prostate cancer samples in addition to the colorectal cancer and SCLC data sets used in the original description of chromothripsis. CONCLUSIONS: ShatterProof is computationally efficient, having low memory requirements and near linear computation time. This allows it to become a standard component of sequencing analysis pipelines, enabling researchers to routinely and accurately assess samples for chromothripsis. Source code and documentation can be found at http://search.cpan.org/~sgovind/Shatterproof.					NA	NA	NA
24476156	Methodology			Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland	Cai H, Kumar N, Bagheri HC, von Mering C, Robinson MD, Baudis M	Chromothripsis-like patterns are recurring but heterogeneously distributed features in a survey of 22,347 cancer genome screens.	BMC Genomics	2014 Jan	BACKGROUND: Chromothripsis is a recently discovered phenomenon of genomic rearrangement, possibly arising during a single genome-shattering event. This could provide an alternative paradigm in cancer development, replacing the gradual accumulation of genomic changes with a one-off catastrophic event. However, the term has been used with varying operational definitions, with the minimal consensus being a large number of locally clustered copy number aberrations. The mechanisms underlying these chromothripsis-like patterns (CTLP) and their specific impact on tumorigenesis are still poorly understood. RESULTS: Here, we identified CTLP in 918 cancer samples, from a dataset of more than 22,000 oncogenomic arrays covering 132 cancer types. Fragmentation hotspots were found to be located on chromosome 8, 11, 12 and 17. Among the various cancer types, soft-tissue tumors exhibited particularly high CTLP frequencies. Genomic context analysis revealed that CTLP rearrangements frequently occurred in genomes that additionally harbored multiple copy number aberrations (CNAs). An investigation into the affected chromosomal regions showed a large proportion of arm-level pulverization and telomere related events, which would be compatible to a number of underlying mechanisms. We also report evidence that these genomic events may be correlated with patient age, stage and survival rate. CONCLUSIONS: Through a large-scale analysis of oncogenomic array data sets, this study characterized features associated with genomic aberrations patterns, compatible to the spectrum of chromothripsis-definitions as previously used. While quantifying clustered genomic copy number aberrations in cancer samples, our data indicates an underlying biological heterogeneity behind these chromothripsis-like patterns, beyond a well defined chromthripsis phenomenon.					NA	NA	NA
24563343	Review and Opinion	Myelodysplastic syndrome		Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, RM 213, Biotech 3, 1 Innovation Dr, Worcester, MA, 01605, USA	Fischer AH	The diagnostic pathology of the nuclear envelope in human cancers.	Adv Exp Med Biol	2014	Cancer is still diagnosed on the basis of altered tissue and cellular morphology. The criteria that pathologists use for diagnosis include many morphologically distinctive alterations in the nuclear envelope (NE). With the expectation that diagnostic NE changes will have biological relevance to cancer, a classification of the various types of NE structural changes into three groups is proposed. The first group predicts chromosomal instability. The changes in this group include pleomorphism of lamina size and shape, as if constraints to maintain a spherical shape were lost. Also characteristic of chromosomal instability are the presence of micronuclei, a specific structural feature likely related to the newly described physiology of chromothripsis. The second group is predicted to be functionally important during clonal evolution, because the NE changes in this group are conserved during the clonal evolution of genetically unstable tumors. Two examples of this group include increased ratio of nuclear volume to cytoplasmic volume and the relatively fragile nuclei of small-cell carcinomas. The third and most interesting group develops in a near-diploid, genetically stable background. Many of these (perhaps ultimately all) are directly related to the activation of particular oncogenes. The changes in this group so far include long inward folds of the NE and spherical invaginations of cytoplasm projecting partially into the nucleus (intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions). This group is exemplified by papillary thyroid carcinoma in which RET and TRK tyrosine kinases, and probably B-Raf mutations, directly lead to diagnostic longitudinal folds of the lamina (nuclear grooves) and intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions. B-Raf activation may also be linked to intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions in melanoma and to nuclear grooves in Langerhans cell histiocytosis. Nuclear grooves in granulosa cell tumor may be related to mutations in the FOXL2 oncogene. Uncovering the precise mechanistic basis for any of these lamina alterations would provide a valuable objective means for improving diagnosis, and will likely reflect new types of functional changes, relevant to particular forms of cancer.					NA	NA	NA
25369334	Review and Opinion			Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v. v. i., Brno, Czech Republic	Pagacova E, Falk M, Falkova I, Lukasova E, Michalova K, Oltova A, Raska I, Kozubek S.	Frequent chromatin rearrangements in myelodysplastic syndromes--what stands behind?	Folia Biol (Praha)	2014	Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) represent a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of clonal haematopoietic diseases characterized by a short survival and high rate of transformation to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). In spite of this variability, MDS is associated with typical recurrent non-random cytogenetic defects. Chromosomal abnormalities are detected in the malignant bone-marrow cells of approximately 40-80 % of patients with primary or secondary MDS. The most frequent chromosomal rearrangements involve chromosomes 5, 7 and 8. MDS often shows presence of unbalanced chromosomal changes, especially large deletions [del(5), del(7q), del(12p), del(18q), del(20q)] or losses of whole chromosomes (7 and Y). The most typical cytogenetic abnormality is a partial or complete deletion of 5q- that occurs in roughly 30 % of all MDS cases either as the sole abnormality or in combination with other aberrations as a part of frequently complex karyotypes. The mechanisms responsible for the formation of MDS-associated recurrent translocations and complex karyotypes are unknown. Since some of the mentioned aberrations are characteristic for several haematological malignancies, more general cellular conditions could be expected to play a role. In this article, we introduce the most common rearrangements linked to MDS and discuss the potential role of the non-random higher-order chromatin structure in their formation. A contribution of the chromothripsis - a catastrophic event discovered only recently - is considered to explain how complex karyotypes may occur (during a single event).					NA	NA	NA
25344728	Methodology	Osteosarcoma		Joint IRB-BSC Program in Computational Biology, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain	Moncunill V, Gonzalez S, Bea S, Andrieux LO, Salaverria I, Royo C, Martinez L, Puiggros M, Segura-Wang M, Stutz AM, Navarro A, Royo R, Gelpi JL, Gut IG, Lopez-Otin C, Orozco M, Korbel JO, Campo E, Puente XS, Torrents D	Comprehensive characterization of complex structural variations in cancer by directly comparing genome sequence reads.	Nat Biotechnol	2014 Nov	The development of high-throughput sequencing technologies has advanced our understanding of cancer. However, characterizing somatic structural variants in tumor genomes is still challenging because current strategies depend on the initial alignment of reads to a reference genome. Here, we describe SMUFIN (somatic mutation finder), a single program that directly compares sequence reads from normal and tumor genomes to accurately identify and characterize a range of somatic sequence variation, from single-nucleotide variants (SNV) to large structural variants at base pair resolution. Performance tests on modeled tumor genomes showed average sensitivity of 92% and 74% for SNVs and structural variants, with specificities of 95% and 91%, respectively. Analyses of aggressive forms of solid and hematological tumors revealed that SMUFIN identifies breakpoints associated with chromothripsis and chromoplexy with high specificity. SMUFIN provides an integrated solution for the accurate, fast and comprehensive characterization of somatic sequence variation in cancer.					NA	NA	NA
25319867	Review and Opinion			Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, 3002, Victoria, Australia	Kansara M, Teng MW, Smyth MJ, Thomas DM	Translational biology of osteosarcoma.	Nat Rev Cancer	2014 Nov	For the past 30 years, improvements in the survival of patients with osteosarcoma have been mostly incremental. Despite evidence of genomic instability and a high frequency of chromothripsis and kataegis, osteosarcomas carry few recurrent targetable mutations, and trials of targeted agents have been generally disappointing. Bone has a highly specialized immune environment and many immune signalling pathways are important in bone homeostasis. The success of the innate immune stimulant mifamurtide in the adjuvant treatment of non-metastatic osteosarcoma suggests that newer immune-based treatments, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, may substantially improve disease outcome.					NA	NA	NA
24939897	Methodology			Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA	Kinsella M, Patel A, Bafna V	The elusive evidence for chromothripsis.	Nucleic Acids Res	2014 Jul	The chromothripsis hypothesis suggests an extraordinary one-step catastrophic genomic event allowing a chromosome to 'shatter into many pieces' and reassemble into a functioning chromosome. Recent efforts have aimed to detect chromothripsis by looking for a genomic signature, characterized by a large number of breakpoints (50-250), but a limited number of oscillating copy number states (2-3) confined to a few chromosomes. The chromothripsis phenomenon has become widely reported in different cancers, but using inconsistent and sometimes relaxed criteria for determining rearrangements occur simultaneously rather than progressively. We revisit the original simulation approach and show that the signature is not clearly exceptional, and can be explained using only progressive rearrangements. For example, 3.9% of progressively simulated chromosomes with 50-55 breakpoints were dominated by two or three copy number states. In addition, by adjusting the parameters of the simulation, the proposed footprint appears more frequently. Lastly, we provide an algorithm to find a sequence of progressive rearrangements that explains all observed breakpoints from a proposed chromothripsis chromosome. Thus, the proposed signature cannot be considered a sufficient proof for this extraordinary hypothesis. Great caution should be exercised when labeling complex rearrangements as chromothripsis from genome hybridization and sequencing experiments.					NA	NA	NA
22258507	Methodology			Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA	Crasta K, Ganem NJ, Dagher R, Lantermann AB, Ivanova EV, Pan Y, Nezi L, Protopopov A, Chowdhury D, Pellman D	DNA breaks and chromosome pulverization from errors in mitosis.	Nature	2012 Jan 	The involvement of whole-chromosome aneuploidy in tumorigenesis is the subject of debate, in large part because of the lack of insight into underlying mechanisms. Here we identify a mechanism by which errors in mitotic chromosome segregation generate DNA breaks via the formation of structures called micronuclei. Whole-chromosome-containing micronuclei form when mitotic errors produce lagging chromosomes. We tracked the fate of newly generated micronuclei and found that they undergo defective and asynchronous DNA replication, resulting in DNA damage and often extensive fragmentation of the chromosome in the micronucleus. Micronuclei can persist in cells over several generations but the chromosome in the micronucleus can also be distributed to daughter nuclei. Thus, chromosome segregation errors potentially lead to mutations and chromosome rearrangements that can integrate into the genome. Pulverization of chromosomes in micronuclei may also be one explanation for 'chromothripsis' in cancer and developmental disorders, where isolated chromosomes or chromosome arms undergo massive local DNA breakage and rearrangement.					NA	NA	NA
25367035	Methodology			Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center, Department of Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02254, USA	Anand RP, Tsaponina O, Greenwell PW, Lee CS, Du W, Petes TD, Haber JE	Chromosome rearrangements via template switching between diverged repeated sequences.	Genes Dev	2014 Nov	Recent high-resolution genome analyses of cancer and other diseases have revealed the occurrence of microhomology-mediated chromosome rearrangements and copy number changes. Although some of these rearrangements appear to involve nonhomologous end-joining, many must have involved mechanisms requiring new DNA synthesis. Models such as microhomology-mediated break-induced replication (MM-BIR) have been invoked to explain these rearrangements. We examined BIR and template switching between highly diverged sequences in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, induced during repair of a site-specific double-strand break (DSB). Our data show that such template switches are robust mechanisms that give rise to complex rearrangements. Template switches between highly divergent sequences appear to be mechanistically distinct from the initial strand invasions that establish BIR. In particular, such jumps are less constrained by sequence divergence and exhibit a different pattern of microhomology junctions. BIR traversing repeated DNA sequences frequently results in complex translocations analogous to those seen in mammalian cells. These results suggest that template switching among repeated genes is a potent driver of genome instability and evolution.					NA	NA	NA
26040249	Review and Opinion			Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont	Cannan WJ, Pederson DS	Mechanisms and Consequences of Double-strand DNA Break Formation in Chromatin.	J Cell Physiol	2015 Jun 	All organisms suffer double-strand breaks (DSBs) in their DNA as a result of exposure to ionizing radiation. DSBs can also form when replication forks encounter certain DNA lesions or repair intermediates. The processing and repair of DSBs can lead to mutations, loss of heterozygosity, and chromosome rearrangements that can lead to cell death or cancer. The most common pathway used to repair DSBs in metazoans (non-homologous DNA end joining) is more commonly mutagenic than the alternative pathway (homologous recombination mediated repair). Thus, factors that influence the choice of pathways used DSB repair can affect an individual's mutation burden and risk of cancer. This review describes radiological, chemical and biological mechanisms that generate DSBs, and discusses the impact of such variables as DSB etiology, cell type, cell cycle, and chromatin structure on the yield, distribution, and processing of DSBs. The final section will focus on nucleosome-specific mechanisms that influence DSB production, and the possible relationship between higher order chromosome coiling and chromosome shattering (chromothripsis).This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.					NA	NA	NA
26070663	Methodology		Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA	Weckselblatt B, Hermetz KE, Rudd MK	Unbalanced translocations arise from diverse mutational mechanisms including chromothripsis.	Genome Res	2015 Jul	Unbalanced translocations are a relatively common type of copy number variation and a major contributor to neurodevelopmental disorders. We analyzed the breakpoints of 57 unique unbalanced translocations to investigate the mechanisms of how they form. Fifty-one are simple unbalanced translocations between two different chromosome ends, and six rearrangements have more than three breakpoints involving two to five chromosomes. Sequencing 37 breakpoint junctions revealed that simple translocations have between 0 and 4 base pairs (bp) of microhomology (n = 26), short inserted sequences (n = 8), or paralogous repeats (n = 3) at the junctions, indicating that translocations do not arise primarily from nonallelic homologous recombination but instead form most often via nonhomologous end joining or microhomology-mediated break-induced replication. Three simple translocations fuse genes that are predicted to produce in-frame transcripts of SIRPG-WWOX, SMOC2-PROX1, and PIEZO2-MTA1, which may lead to gain of function. Three complex translocations have inversions, insertions, and multiple breakpoint junctions between only two chromosomes. Whole-genome sequencing and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of two de novo translocations revealed at least 18 and 33 breakpoints involving five different chromosomes. Breakpoint sequencing of one maternally inherited translocation involving four chromosomes uncovered multiple breakpoints with inversions and insertions. All of these breakpoint junctions had 0-4 bp of microhomology consistent with chromothripsis, and both de novo events occurred on paternal alleles. Together with other studies, these data suggest that germline chromothripsis arises in the paternal genome and may be transmitted maternally. Breakpoint sequencing of our large collection of chromosome rearrangements provides a comprehensive analysis of the molecular mechanisms behind translocation formation.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
25034695	Methodology		Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Biology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy	L'Abbate A, Macchia G, D'Addabbo P, Lonoce A, Tolomeo D, Trombetta D, Kok K, Bartenhagen C, Whelan CW, Palumbo O, Severgnini M, Cifola I, Dugas M, Carella M, De Bellis G, Rocchi M, Carbone L, Storlazzi CT	Genomic organization and evolution of double minutes/homogeneously staining regions with MYC amplification in human cancer.	Nucleic Acids Res	2014 Aug	The mechanism for generating double minutes chromosomes (dmin) and homogeneously staining regions (hsr) in cancer is still poorly understood. Through an integrated approach combining next-generation sequencing, single nucleotide polymorphism array, fluorescent in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction-based techniques, we inferred the fine structure of MYC-containing dmin/hsr amplicons harboring sequences from several different chromosomes in seven tumor cell lines, and characterized an unprecedented number of hsr insertion sites. Local chromosome shattering involving a single-step catastrophic event (chromothripsis) was recently proposed to explain clustered chromosomal rearrangements and genomic amplifications in cancer. Our bioinformatics analyses based on the listed criteria to define chromothripsis led us to exclude it as the driving force underlying amplicon genesis in our samples. Instead, the finding of coexisting heterogeneous amplicons, differing in their complexity and chromosome content, in cell lines derived from the same tumor indicated the occurrence of a multi-step evolutionary process in the genesis of dmin/hsr. Our integrated approach allowed us to gather a complete view of the complex chromosome rearrangements occurring within MYC amplicons, suggesting that more than one model may be invoked to explain the origin of dmin/hsr in cancer. Finally, we identified PVT1 as a target of fusion events, confirming its role as breakpoint hotspot in MYC amplification.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
23028374	Methodology		Array CGH	Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America	Arlt MF, Rajendran S, Birkeland SR, Wilson TE, Glover TW	De Novo CNV Formation in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells Occurs in the Absence of Xrcc4-Dependent Nonhomologous End Joining	PLOS Genet	2012 Sep	Spontaneous copy number variant (CNV) mutations are an important factor in genomic structural variation, genomic disorders, and cancer. A major class of CNVs, termed nonrecurrent CNVs, is thought to arise by nonhomologous DNA repair mechanisms due to the presence of short microhomologies, blunt ends, or short insertions at junctions of normal and de novo pathogenic CNVs, features recapitulated in experimental systems in which CNVs are induced by exogenous replication stress. To test whether the canonical nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway of double-strand break (DSB) repair is involved in the formation of this class of CNVs, chromosome integrity was monitored in NHEJ-deficient Xrcc4(-/-) mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells following treatment with low doses of aphidicolin, a DNA replicative polymerase inhibitor. Mouse ES cells exhibited replication stress-induced CNV formation in the same manner as human fibroblasts, including the existence of syntenic hotspot regions, such as in the Auts2 and Wwox loci. The frequency and location of spontaneous and aphidicolin-induced CNV formation were not altered by loss of Xrcc4, as would be expected if canonical NHEJ were the predominant pathway of CNV formation. Moreover, de novo CNV junctions displayed a typical pattern of microhomology and blunt end use that did not change in the absence of Xrcc4. A number of complex CNVs were detected in both wild-type and Xrcc4(-/-) cells, including an example of a catastrophic, chromothripsis event. These results establish that nonrecurrent CNVs can be, and frequently are, formed by mechanisms other than Xrcc4-dependent NHEJ.	Mus musculus				NA	NA	NA
23112751	Review and Opinion			Department of Medical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrech	Martin Poot	Chromothripsis Challenges the Germline	Mol Syndromol	2012 July	Complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs) con- stitute a rare, difficult to detect and hard to interpret en- tity in clinical cytogenetic diagnosis. CCRs are usually detected by inspection of chromosomal banding pat- terns during karyotyping. The sensitivity of detection is thus limited by the number of microscopically visible bands, typically in the order of 500 to 800. Array-CGH offers a dramatically improved resolution of detection but is limited to CCRs that are associated with copy number variations (CNVs), i.e. losses or gains. Copy neu- tral CCRs, in contrast, escape detection by array-CGH					NA	NA	NA
24299711	Methodology	Melanoma		Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics; Wayne State University School of Medicine; Detroit, MI USA	Liu G, Stevens JB, Horne SD, Abdallah BY, Ye KJ, Bremer SW, Ye CJ, Chen DJ, Heng HH	Genome chaos: survival strategy during crisis.	Cell Cycle	2014 Dec	Genome chaos, a process of complex, rapid genome re-organization, results in the formation of chaotic genomes, which is followed by the potential to establish stable genomes. It was initially detected through cytogenetic analyses, and recently confirmed by whole-genome sequencing efforts which identified multiple subtypes including chromothripsis, chromoplexy, chromoanasynthesis, and chromoanagenesis. Although genome chaos occurs commonly in tumors, both the mechanism and detailed aspects of the process are unknown due to the inability of observing its evolution over time in clinical samples. Here, an experimental system to monitor the evolutionary process of genome chaos was developed to elucidate its mechanisms. Genome chaos occurs following exposure to chemotherapeutics with different mechanisms, which act collectively as stressors. Characterization of the karyotype and its dynamic changes prior to, during, and after induction of genome chaos demonstrates that chromosome fragmentation (C-Frag) occurs just prior to chaotic genome formation. Chaotic genomes seem to form by random rejoining of chromosomal fragments, in part through non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Stress induced genome chaos results in increased karyotypic heterogeneity. Such increased evolutionary potential is demonstrated by the identification of increased transcriptome dynamics associated with high levels of karyotypic variance. In contrast to impacting on a limited number of cancer genes, re-organized genomes lead to new system dynamics essential for cancer evolution. Genome chaos acts as a mechanism of rapid, adaptive, genome-based evolution that plays an essential role in promoting rapid macroevolution of new genome-defined systems during crisis, which may explain some unwanted consequences of cancer treatment.					NA	NA	NA
23729733	Methodology			University of Oxford, Department of Biochemistry, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK	Hammond D, Zeng K, Espert A, Bastos RN, Baron RD, Gruneberg U, Barr FA	Melanoma-associated mutations in protein phosphatase 6 cause chromosome instability and DNA damage owing to dysregulated Aurora-A.	J Cell Sci	2013 Aug	Mutations in the PPP6C catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 6 (PP6) are drivers for the development of melanoma. Here, we analyse a panel of melanoma-associated mutations in PPP6C and find that these generally compromise assembly of the PP6 holoenzyme and catalytic activity towards a model substrate. Detailed analysis of one mutant, PPP6C-H114Y, in both primary melanoma and engineered cell lines reveals it is destabilized and undergoes increased proteasome-mediated turnover. Global analysis of phosphatase substrates by mass spectrometry identifies the oncogenic kinase Aurora-A as the major PP6 substrate that is dysregulated under these conditions. Accordingly, cells lacking PPP6C or carrying the PPP6C-H114Y allele have elevated Aurora-A kinase activity and display chromosome instability with associated Aurora-A-dependent micronucleation. Chromosomes mis-segregated to these micronuclei are preferentially stained by the DNA damage marker gamma-H2AX, suggesting that loss of PPP6C promotes both chromosome instability and DNA damage. These findings support the view that formation of micronuclei rather than chromosome instability alone explains how loss of PPP6C, and more generally mitotic spindle and centrosome defects, can act as drivers for genome instability in melanoma and other cancers.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
23135524	Review and Opinion			Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA	Holland AJ, Cleveland DW	Chromoanagenesis and cancer: mechanisms and consequences of localized, complex chromosomal rearrangements.	Nat Med	2012 Nov	Next-generation sequencing of DNA from human tumors or individuals with developmental abnormalities has led to the discovery of a process we term chromoanagenesis, in which large numbers of complex rearrangements occur at one or a few chromosomal loci in a single catastrophic event. Two mechanisms underlie these rearrangements, both of which can be facilitated by a mitotic chromosome segregation error to produce a micronucleus containing the chromosome to undergo rearrangement. In the first, chromosome shattering (chromothripsis) is produced by mitotic entry before completion of DNA replication within the micronucleus, with a failure to disassemble the micronuclear envelope encapsulating the chromosomal fragments for random reassembly in the subsequent interphase. Alternatively, locally defective DNA replication initiates serial, microhomology-mediated template switching (chromoanasynthesis) that produces local rearrangements with altered gene copy numbers. Complex rearrangements are present in a broad spectrum of tumors and in individuals with congenital or developmental defects, highlighting the impact of chromoanagenesis on human disease.					NA	NA	NA
22972457	Review and Opinion			The Gurdon Institute and Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK	Forment JV, Kaidi A, Jackson SP	Chromothripsis and cancer: causes and consequences of chromosome shattering.	Nat Rev Cancer	2012 Oct	Genomic alterations that lead to oncogene activation and tumour suppressor loss are important driving forces for cancer development. Although these changes can accumulate progressively during cancer evolution, recent studies have revealed that many cancer cells harbour chromosomes bearing tens to hundreds of clustered genome rearrangements. In this Review, we describe how this striking phenomenon, termed chromothripsis, is likely to arise through chromosome breakage and inaccurate reassembly. We also discuss the potential diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic implications of chromothripsis in cancer.					NA	NA	NA
23005591	Review and Opinion			Division of Cancer Genomics, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan	Shibata T	Cancer genomics and pathology: all together now.	Pathol Int	2012 Oct	Cancer develops from a single cell with stepwise accumulation of genomic alterations. Recent innovative sequencing technologies have made it possible to sequence the full cancer genome. Cancer genome sequencing has been productive and helpful in the discovery of novel cancer genes. It also has revealed previously unknown but intriguing features of the cancer genome such as chromothripsis and kataegis. However, careful comparison of these studies has suggested that analyses of most tumors still seem to be incomplete, and histopathological diagnosis/classification will be essential for refining these data. Based on the improvement of technology and the completion of the cancer gene catalog, genetic diagnosis, such as examination of all potentially druggable mutations, of individual cancers will be performed routinely together with histological diagnosis. Pathologists will play a central role in both interpreting these patho-molecular diagnoses for oncologists, and the process of decision-making necessary for individualized medicine.					NA	NA	NA
24071852	Methodology			Broad Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Zack TI, Schumacher SE, Carter SL, Cherniack AD, Saksena G, Tabak B, Lawrence MS, Zhsng CZ, Wala J, Mermel CH, Sougnez C, Gabriel SB, Hernandez B, Shen H, Laird PW, Getz G, Meyerson M, Beroukhim R	Pan-cancer patterns of somatic copy number alteration	Nature Genetics	2013 Oct	Determining how somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) promote cancer is an important goal. We characterized SCNA patterns in 4,934 cancers from The Cancer Genome Atlas Pan-Cancer data set. Whole-genome doubling, observed in 37% of cancers, was associated with higher rates of every other type of SCNA, TP53 mutations, CCNE1 amplifications and alterations of the PPP2R complex. SCNAs that were internal to chromosomes tended to be shorter than telomere-bounded SCNAs, suggesting different mechanisms underlying their generation. Significantly recurrent focal SCNAs were observed in 140 regions, including 102 without known oncogene or tumor suppressor gene targets and 50 with significantly mutated genes. Amplified regions without known oncogenes were enriched for genes involved in epigenetic regulation. When levels of genomic disruption were accounted for, 7% of region pairs were anticorrelated, and these regions tended to encompass genes whose proteins physically interact, suggesting related functions. These results provide insights into mechanisms of generation and functional consequences of cancer-related SCNAs. 	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
26178348	Review and Opinion			Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences ; The Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins ; Baltimore MD USA	Ivkov R, Bunz F	Pathways to chromothripsis	Cell Cycle	2015 Sep	Chromothripsis is a recently recognized mode of genetic instability that generates chromosomes with strikingly large numbers of segmental re-arrangements. While the characterization of these derivative chromosomes has provided new insights into the processes by which cancer genomes can evolve, the underlying signaling events and molecular mechanisms remain unknown. In medulloblastomas, chromothripsis has been observed to occur in the context of mutational inactivation of p53 and activation of the canonical Hedgehog (Hh) pathway. Recent studies have illuminated mechanistic links between these 2 signaling pathways, including a novel PTCH1 homolog that is regulated by p53. Here, we integrate this new pathway into a hypothetical model for the catastrophic DNA breakage that appears to trigger profound chromosomal rearrangements.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
26091668	Research	Glioma	Array CGH	Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, 2000 Circle of Hope, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA	Cohen A, Sato M, Aldape K, Mason CC, Alfaro-Munoz K, Heathcock L, South ST,, Abegglen LM, Schiffman JD, Colman H	DNA copy number analysis of Grade II-III and Grade IV gliomas reveals differences in molecular ontogeny including chromothripsis associated with IDH mutation status.	Acta Neuropathol Commun	2015 Jun	INTRODUCTION: Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation status and grade define subgroups of diffuse gliomas differing based on age, tumor location, presentation, and prognosis. While some biologic differences between IDH mutated (IDH (mut)) and wild-type (IDH (wt)) gliomas are clear, the distinct alterations associated with progression of the two subtypes to glioblastoma (GBM, Grade IV) have not been well described. We analyzed copy number alterations (CNAs) across grades (Grade II-III and GBM) in both IDH (mut) and IDH (wt) infiltrating gliomas using molecular inversion probe arrays. RESULTS: Ninety four patient samples were divided into four groups: Grade II-III IDH (wt) (n=17), Grade II-III IDH (mut) (n=28), GBM IDH (wt) (n=25), and GBM IDH (mut) (n=24). We validated prior observations that IDH (wt) GBM have a high frequency of chromosome 7 gain (including EGFR) and chromosome 10 loss (including PTEN) compared with IDH (mut) GBM. Hierarchical clustering of IDH (mut) gliomas demonstrated distinct CNA patterns distinguishing lower grade gliomas versus GBM. However, similar hierarchical clustering of IDH (wt) gliomas demonstrated no CNA distinction between lower grade glioma and GBM. Functional analyses showed that IDH (wt) gliomas had more chromosome gains in regions containing receptor tyrosine kinase pathways. In contrast, IDH (mut) gliomas more commonly demonstrated amplification of cyclins and cyclin dependent kinase genes. One of the most common alterations associated with transformation of lower grade to GBM IDH (mut) gliomas was the loss of chromosomal regions surrounding PTEN. IDH (mut) GBM tumors demonstrated significantly higher levels of overall CNAs compared to lower grade IDH (mut) tumors and all grades of IDH (wt) tumors, and IDH (mut) GBMs also demonstrated significant increase in incidence of chromothripsis. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these analyses demonstrate distinct molecular ontogeny between IDH (wt) and IDH (mut) gliomas. Our data also support the novel findings that malignant progression of IDH (mut) gliomas to GBM involves increased genomic instability and genomic catastrophe, while IDH (wt) lower grade tumors are virtually identical to GBMs at the level of DNA copy number alterations.					>=20	2	NA
23695551	Research	Prostate cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Departments of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Molecular Medicine, and Urology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester,MN 55905, USA	Kovtun IV, Cheville JC, Murphy SJ, Johnson SH, Zarei S, Kosari F, Sukov WR, Karnes RJ, Vasmatzis G	Lineage relationship of Gleason patterns in Gleason score 7 prostate cancer	Cancer Research	2013 Jun	Gleason score 7 (GS7) prostate cancer [tumors with both Gleason patterns 3 (GP3) and 4 (GP4)] portends a significantly more aggressive tumor than Gleason score 6 (GS6). It is, therefore, critical to understand the molecular relationship of adjacent GP3 and GP4 tumor cell populations and relate molecular abnormalities to disease progression. To decipher molecular relatedness, we used laser capture microdissection (LCM) and wholegenome amplification (WGA) to separately collect and amplify DNA from adjacent GP3 and GP4 cell populations from 14 cases of GS7 prostate cancer. We then carried out massively parallel mate-pair next generation sequencing (NGS) to examine the landscape of large chromosomal alterations. We identified four to 115 DNA breakpoints in GP3 and 17 to 480 in GP4. Our findings indicate that while GP3 and GP4 from the same tumor each possess unique breakpoints, they also share identical ones, indicating a common origin. Approximately 300 chromosomal breakpoints were localized to the regions affected in at least two tumors, whereas more than 3,000 were unique within the set of 14 tumors. TMPRSS2-ERG was the most recurrent rearrangement present in eight cases, in both GP3 and GP4. PTEN rearrangements were found in five of eight TMPRSS2-ERG fusion-positive cases in both GP3 and GP4. Hierarchical clustering analysis revealed that GP3 has greater breakpoint similarity to its partner GP4 compared with GP3 from different patients. We show evidence that LCM, WGA, and NGS of adjacent tumor regions provide an important tool in deciphering lineage relationships and discovering chromosomal alterations associated with tumor progression.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
27185889	Methodology			Center of Growth, Metabolism, and Aging, Key Laboratory of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, Sichuan, China	Yang J, Liu J, Ouyang L, Chen Y, Liu B, Cai H	CTLPScanner: a web server for chromothripsis-like pattern detection	Nucleic Acids Res	2016 May	Chromothripsis is a recently observed phenomenon in cancer cells in which one or several chromosomes shatter into pieces with subsequent inaccurate reassembly and clonal propagation. This type of event generates a potentially vast number of mutations within a relatively short-time period, and has been considered as a new paradigm in cancer development. Despite recent advances, much work is still required to better understand the molecular mechanisms of this phenomenon, and thus an easy-to-use tool is in urgent need for automatically detecting and annotating chromothripsis. Here we present CTLPScanner, a web server for detection of chromothripsis-like pattern (CTLP) in genomic array data. The output interface presents intuitive graphical representations of detected chromosome pulverization region, as well as detailed results in table format. CTLPScanner also provides additional information for associated genes in chromothripsis region to help identify the potential candidates involved in tumorigenesis. To assist in performing meta-data analysis, we integrated over 50 000 pre-processed genomic arrays from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus into CTLPScanner. The server allows users to explore the presence of chromothripsis signatures from public data resources, without carrying out any local data processing. CTLPScanner is freely available at http://cgma.scu.edu.cn/CTLPScanner/.							
27108385	Research	Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma	SNP array	Department of Pathology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX	Ortega V, Chaubey A, Mendiola C, Ehman W Jr, Vadlamudi K, Dupont B, Velagaleti G	Complex Chromosomal Rearrangements in B-Cell Lymphoma: Evidence of Chromoanagenesis? A Case Report	Neoplasia	2016 Apr	Genomic instability is a well-known hallmark of cancer. Recent genome sequencing studies have led to the identification of novel phenomena called chromothripsis and chromoanasynthesis in which complex genomic rearrangements are thought to be derived from a single catastrophic event rather than by several incremental steps. A new term chromoanagenesis or chromosomal rebirth was coined recently to group these two one-step catastrophic events together. These phenomena suggest an evolutionary modality for cancer cells to circumvent individual mutational events with one simultaneous shattering of chromosomes resulting in the random reassembling of segmented genetic material to form complex derivative chromosomes. We report a case of possible chromoanagenesis in a patient with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Chromosome analysis from the biopsy showed a complex karyotype with multiple numerical and structural rearrangements including a translocation of chromosomes 3 and 7 involving the BCL6 gene region, with the derivative chromosome further rearranging with chromosomes 14, 7, and 22 with involvement of the IGH gene region. Fluorescence in situ hybridization studies confirmed these findings. Chromosomal microarray studies showed multiple complex copy number variations including a chromosome 12 abnormality, the complexity of which appears to suggest the phenomenon of chromoanagenesis. Our case further illustrates that lymphomagenesis can be complex and may arise from a catastrophic event resulting in multiple complex chromosome rearrangements.	Homo sapiens				>6	3	No
27023493	Review and Opinion			Group Maintenance of Genome Stability, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Kaiserslautern, Paul-Ehrlich Str. 24, 67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany	Storchova Z, Kloosterman WP	The genomic characteristics and cellular origin of chromothripsis	Curr Opin Cell Biol	2016 Jun	Human genomes are continuously subjected to mutations, which can drive genetic diseases and cancer. An intriguing recent finding has been the discovery of chromothripsis, a spectacular and complex form of chromosome rearrangement that can occur in the genomes of cancer cells and patients with congenital diseases. Chromothripsis has been described in a large array of human cancers and various types of chromothripsis have appeared, which differ in complexity and genomic hallmarks. From the combined genomic data a consensus hypothesis has been inferred, involving aberrant DNA replication and chromosome shattering as the underlying processes explaining chromothripsis. In addition, recent work has established several cellular models that recapitulate chromothripsis under defined experimental conditions. One of these models indicates that chromothripsis can originate from DNA damage in micronuclei, providing an elegant explanation for the restriction of chromothriptic rearrangements to a single chromosome. Alternatively, chromothripsis can be caused by telomere crisis, a process that involves formation of dicentric chromosomes and chromatin bridges. Here, we summarize the genomic features of chromothripsis and we discuss experimental approaches that allow dissection of the chromothripsis process.							
26993771	Research	HPV transducted human foreskin keratinocytes cell line	array CGH	Department of Pathology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Schutze DM, Krijgsman O, Snijders PJ, Ylstra B, Weischenfeldt J, Mardin BR, Stutz AM, Korbel JO, de Winter JP, Meijer CJ, Quint WG, Bosch L, Wilting SM, Steenbergen RD	Immortalization capacity of HPV types is inversely related to chromosomal instability	Oncotarget	2016 Mar	High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) types induce immortalization of primary human epithelial cells. Previously we demonstrated that immortalization of human foreskin keratinocytes (HFKs) is HPV type dependent, as reflected by the presence or absence of a crisis period before reaching immortality. This study determined how the immortalization capacity of ten hrHPV types relates to DNA damage induction and overall genomic instability in HFKs.Twenty five cell cultures obtained by transduction of ten hrHPV types (i.e. HPV16/18/31/33/35/45/51/59/66/70 E6E7) in two or three HFK donors each were studied.All hrHPV-transduced HFKs showed an increased number of double strand DNA breaks compared to controls, without exhibiting significant differences between types. However, immortal descendants of HPV-transduced HFKs that underwent a prior crisis period (HPV45/51/59/66/70-transduced HFKs) showed significantly more chromosomal aberrations compared to those without crisis (HPV16/18/31/33/35-transduced HFKs). Notably, the hTERT locus at 5p was exclusively gained in cells with a history of crisis and coincided with increased expression. Chromothripsis was detected in one cell line in which multiple rearrangements within chromosome 8 resulted in a gain of MYC.Together we demonstrated that upon HPV-induced immortalization, the number of chromosomal aberrations is inversely related to the viral immortalization capacity. We propose that hrHPV types with reduced immortalization capacity in vitro, reflected by a crisis period, require more genetic host cell aberrations to facilitate immortalization than types that can immortalize without crisis. This may in part explain the observed differences in HPV-type prevalence in cervical cancers and emphasizes that changes in the host cell genome contribute to HPV-induced carcinogenesis.	Homo sapiens	GSE72063			>20	3	No
26929209	Research	Congenital abnormality	Next Generation Sequencing	Applied Human Molecular Genetics, Kennedy Center, Department of Clinical Genetics, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Glostrup, 2600, Denmark	Nazaryan-Petersen L, Bertelsen B, Bak M, Jonson L, Tommerup N, Hancks DC, Tumer Z	Germline Chromothripsis Driven by L1-Mediated Retrotransposition and Alu/Alu Homologous Recombination	Hum Mutat	2016 Apr	Chromothripsis (CTH) is a phenomenon where multiple localized double-stranded DNA breaks result in complex genomic rearrangements. Although the DNA-repair mechanisms involved in CTH have been described, the mechanisms driving the localized "shattering" process remain unclear. High-throughput sequence analysis of a familial germline CTH revealed an inserted SVAE retrotransposon associated with a 110-kb deletion displaying hallmarks of L1-mediated retrotransposition. Our analysis suggests that the SVAE insertion did not occur prior to or after, but concurrent with the CTH event. We also observed L1-endonuclease potential target sites in other breakpoints. In addition, we found four Alu elements flanking the 110-kb deletion and associated with an inversion. We suggest that chromatin looping mediated by homologous Alu elements may have brought distal DNA regions into close proximity facilitating DNA cleavage by catalytically active L1-endonuclease. Our data provide the first evidence that active and inactive human retrotransposons can serve as endogenous mutagens driving CTH in the germline.	Homo sapiens				>6	2	Yes
27259208	Review and Opinion			Developmental Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA	Kass EM, Moynahan ME, Jasin M	When Genome Maintenance Goes Badly Awry	Mol Cell	2016 Jun	Genetic abnormalities are present in all tumor types, although the frequency and type can vary. Chromosome abnormalities include highly aberrant structures, particularly chromothriptic chromosomes. The generation of massive sequencing data has illuminated the scope of the mutational burden in cancer genomes, identifying patterns of mutations (mutation signatures), which have the potential to shed light on the relatedness and etiologies of cancers and impact therapy response. Some mutation patterns are clearly attributable to disruptions in pathways that maintain genomic integrity. Here we review recent advances in our understanding of genetic changes occurring in cancers and the roles of genome maintenance pathways.							
27255164	Research	Mullerian adenosarcoma	Inversion probe array	Department and Graduate Institute of Pathology, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan	Lee JC, Lu TP, Changou CA, Liang CW, Huang HN, Lauria A, Huang HY, Lin CY, Chiang YC, Davidson B, Lin MC, Kuo KT	Genomewide copy number analysis of Mullerian adenosarcoma identified chromosomal instability in the aggressive subgroup	Mod Pathol	2016 Jun	Mullerian adenosarcomas are malignant gynecologic neoplasms. Advanced staging and sarcomatous overgrowth predict poor prognosis. Because the genomic landscape remains poorly understood, we conducted this study to characterize the genomewide copy number variations in adenosarcomas. Sixteen tumors, including eight with and eight without sarcomatous overgrowth, were subjected to a molecular inversion probe array analysis. Copy number variations, particularly losses, were significantly higher in cases with sarcomatous overgrowth. Frequent gains of chromosomal 12q were noted, often involving cancer-associated genes CDK4 (six cases), MDM2, CPM, YEATS4, DDIT3, GLI1 (five each), HMGA2 and STAT6 (four), without association with sarcomatous overgrowth status. The most frequent losses involved chromosomes 13q (five cases), 9p, 16q and 17q (four cases each) and were almost limited to cases with sarcomatous overgrowth. MDM2 and CDK4 amplification, as well as losses of RB1 (observed in two cases) and CDKN2A/B (one case), was verified by FISH. By immunohistochemistry, all MDM2/CDK4-coamplified cases were confirmed to overexpress both encoded proteins, whereas all four cases with (plus an additional four without) gain of HMGA2 overexpressed the HMGA2 protein. Both cases with RB1 loss were negative for the immunostaining of the encoded protein. Chromothripsis-like copy number profiles involving chromosome 12 or 14 were observed in three fatal cases, all of which harbored sarcomatous overgrowth. With whole chromosome painting and deconvolution fluorescent microscopy, dividing tumor cells in all three cases were shown to have scattered extrachromosomal materials derived from chromosomes involved by chromothripsis, suggesting that this phenomenon may serve as visual evidence for chromothripsis in paraffin tissue. In conclusion, we identified frequent chromosome 12q amplifications, including loci containing potential pharmacological targets. Global chromosomal instability and chromothripsis were more frequent in cases with sarcomatous overgrowth. To our knowledge, this is the first time that evidence of chromothripsis has been demonstrated in paraffin-embedded clinical tissues and in adenosarcomas.	Homo sapiens	GSE67107			>20	3	No
26872047	Research	Acute lymphoblastic leukemia 	array CGH	IBSAL, IBMCC, University of Salamanca, CSIC, Cancer Research Center, Salamanca, Spain	Forero-Castro M, Robledo C, Benito R, Abaigar M, Africa Martin A, Arefi M, Fuster JL, de Las Heras N, Rodriguez JN, Quintero J, Riesco S, Hermosin L, de la Fuente I, Recio I, Ribera J, Labrador J, Alonso JM, Olivier C, Sierra M, Megido M, Corchete-Sanchez LA, Ciudad Pizarro J, Garcia JL, Ribera JM, Hernandez-Rivas JM	Genome-Wide DNA Copy Number Analysis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Identifies New Genetic Markers Associated with Clinical Outcome	PLoS One	2016 Feb	Aims: To characterize the presence of additional DNA copy number alterations (CNAs) in children and adults with ALL by whole-genome oligonucleotide array (aCGH) analysis, and to identify their associations with clinical features and outcome. Array-CGH was carried out in 265 newly diagnosed ALLs (142 children and 123 adults). The NimbleGen CGH 12x135K array (Roche) was used to analyze genetic gains and losses. CNAs were analyzed with GISTIC and aCGHweb software. Clinical and biological variables were analyzed. Three of the patients showed chromothripsis (cth6, cth14q and cth15q). CNAs were associated with age, phenotype, genetic subtype and overall survival (OS). In the whole cohort of children, the losses on 14q32.33 (p = 0.019) and 15q13.2 (p = 0.04) were related to shorter OS. In the group of children without good- or poor-risk cytogenetics, the gain on 1p36.11 was a prognostic marker independently associated with shorter OS. In adults, the gains on 19q13.2 (p = 0.001) and Xp21.1 (p = 0.029), and the loss of 17p (p = 0.014) were independent markers of poor prognosis with respect to OS. In summary, CNAs are frequent in ALL and are associated with clinical parameters and survival. Genome-wide DNA copy number analysis allows the identification of genetic markers that predict clinical outcome, suggesting that detection of these genetic lesions will be useful in the management of patients newly diagnosed with ALL	Homo sapiens	GSE75671			>6	2	No
26871565	Research	Developmental delay and dysmorphism	array CGH	Laboratory Genetics, Institute of Medical Genetics, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK	Anderson SE, Kamath A, Pilz DT, Morgan SM	A rare example of germ-line chromothripsis resulting in large genomic imbalance	Clin Dysmorphol	2016 Apr	Chromothripsis is a recently described 'chromosome catastrophe' phenomenon in which multiple genomic rearrangements are generated in a single catastrophic event. Chromothripsis has most frequently been associated with cancer, but there have also been rare reports of chromothripsis in patients with developmental disorders and congenital anomalies. In contrast to the massive DNA loss that often accompanies chromothripsis in cancer, only minimal DNA loss has been reported in the majority of cases of chromothripsis that have occurred in the germ line. Presumably, this is because in most instances, large genomic losses would be lethal in utero. We report on a female patient with developmental delay and dysmorphism. G-banded chromosome analysis detected a subtle, interstitial deletion of chromosome 13 and a complex rearrangement of one X chromosome. Subsequent array comparative genomic hybridisation studies indicated nine deletions on the X chromosome ranging from 327 kb to 8 Mb in size. A 4.4 Mb deletion on chromosome 13 was also confirmed, compatible with the patient's clinical phenotype. We propose that this is a rare example of constitutional chromothripsis in association with relatively large genomic imbalances and that these have been tolerated in this case as they have occurred in a female on the X chromosome, which has undergone preferential X inactivation.	Homo sapiens				18	2	No
26862731	Research	Irradiated oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Molecular Cytogenetics, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan	Morishita M, Muramatsu T, Suto Y, Hirai M, Konishi T, Hayashi S, Shigemizu D, Tsunoda T, Moriyama K, Inazawa J	Chromothripsis-like chromosomal rearrangements induced by ionizing radiation using proton microbeam irradiation system	Oncotarget	2016 Mar	Chromothripsis is the massive but highly localized chromosomal rearrangement in response to a one-step catastrophic event, rather than an accumulation of a series of subsequent and random alterations. Chromothripsis occurs commonly in various human cancers and is thought to be associated with increased malignancy and carcinogenesis. However, the causes and consequences of chromothripsis remain unclear. Therefore, to identify the mechanism underlying the generation of chromothripsis, we investigated whether chromothripsis could be artificially induced by ionizing radiation. We first elicited DNA double-strand breaks in an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line HOC313-P and its highly metastatic subline HOC313-LM, using Single Particle Irradiation system to Cell (SPICE), a focused vertical microbeam system designed to irradiate a spot within the nuclei of adhesive cells, and then established irradiated monoclonal sublines from them, respectively. SNP array analysis detected a number of chromosomal copy number alterations (CNAs) in these sublines, and one HOC313-LM-derived monoclonal subline irradiated with 200 protons by the microbeam displayed multiple CNAs involved locally in chromosome 7. Multi-color FISH showed a complex translocation of chromosome 7 involving chromosomes 11 and 12. Furthermore, whole genome sequencing analysis revealed multiple de novo complex chromosomal rearrangements localized in chromosomes 2, 5, 7, and 20, resembling chromothripsis. These findings suggested that localized ionizing irradiation within the nucleus may induce chromothripsis-like complex chromosomal alterations via local DNA damage in the nucleus.	Homo sapiens				>9	2	Yes
26856307	Research	Li-Fraumeni syndrome	Next Generation Sequencing	Division of Molecular Genetics, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany	Ernst A, Jones DT, Maass KK, Rode A, Deeg KI, Jebaraj BM, Korshunov A, Hovestadt V, Tainsky MA, Pajtler KW, Bender S, Brabetz S, Grobner S, Kool M, Devens F, Edelmann J, Zhang C, Castelo-Branco P, Tabori U, Malkin D, Rippe K, Stilgenbauer S, Pfister SM, Zapatka M, Lichter P	Telomere dysfunction and chromothripsis	Int J Cancer	2016 Jun	Chromothripsis is a recently discovered form of genomic instability, characterized by tens to hundreds of clustered DNA rearrangements resulting from a single dramatic event. Telomere dysfunction has been suggested to play a role in the initiation of this phenomenon, which occurs in a large number of tumor entities. Here, we show that telomere attrition can indeed lead to catastrophic genomic events, and that telomere patterns differ between cells analyzed before and after such genomic catastrophes. Telomere length and telomere stabilization mechanisms diverge between samples with and without chromothripsis in a given tumor subtype. Longitudinal analyses of the evolution of chromothriptic patterns identify either stable patterns between matched primary and relapsed tumors, or loss of the chromothriptic clone in the relapsed specimen. The absence of additional chromothriptic events occurring between the initial tumor and the relapsed tumor sample points to telomere stabilization after the initial chromothriptic event which prevents further shattering of the genome.	Homo sapiens				>8	2--4	No
26833333	Research	Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Translational Medicine Research Center, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030001, China; Key Laboratory of Cellular Physiology, Ministry of Education, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030001, China; Department of Pathology, the First Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030001, China	Cheng C, Zhou Y, Li H, Xiong T, Li S, Bi Y, Kong P, Wang F, Cui H, Li Y, Fang X, Yan T, Li Y, Wang J, Yang B, Zhang L, Jia Z, Song B, Hu X, Yang J, Qiu H, Zhang G, Liu J, Xu E, Shi R, Zhang Y, Liu H, He C, Zhao Z, Qian Y, Rong R, Han Z, Zhang Y, Luo W, Wang J, Peng S, Yang X, Li X, Li L, Fang H, Liu X, Ma L, Chen Y, Guo S, Chen X, Xi Y, Li G, Liang J, Yang X, Guo J, Jia J, Li Q, Cheng X, Zhan Q, Cui Y	Whole-Genome Sequencing Reveals Diverse Models of Structural Variations in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma	Am J Hum Genet	2016 Feb	Comprehensive identification of somatic structural variations (SVs) and understanding their mutational mechanisms in cancer might contribute to understanding biological differences and help to identify new therapeutic targets. Unfortunately, characterization of complex SVs across the whole genome and the mutational mechanisms underlying esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is largely unclear. To define a comprehensive catalog of somatic SVs, affected target genes, and their underlying mechanisms in ESCC, we re-analyzed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data from 31 ESCCs using Meerkat algorithm to predict somatic SVs and Patchwork to determine copy-number changes. We found deletions and translocations with NHEJ and alt-EJ signature as the dominant SV types, and 16% of deletions were complex deletions. SVs frequently led to disruption of cancer-associated genes (e.g., CDKN2A and NOTCH1) with different mutational mechanisms. Moreover, chromothripsis, kataegis, and breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) were identified as contributing to locally mis-arranged chromosomes that occurred in 55% of ESCCs. These genomic catastrophes led to amplification of oncogene through chromothripsis-derived double-minute chromosome formation (e.g., FGFR1 and LETM2) or BFB-affected chromosomes (e.g., CCND1, EGFR, ERBB2, MMPs, and MYC), with approximately 30% of ESCCs harboring BFB-derived CCND1 amplification. Furthermore, analyses of copy-number alterations reveal high frequency of whole-genome duplication (WGD) and recurrent focal amplification of CDCA7 that might act as a potential oncogene in ESCC. Our findings reveal molecular defects such as chromothripsis and BFB in malignant transformation of ESCCs and demonstrate diverse models of SVs-derived target genes in ESCCs. These genome-wide SV profiles and their underlying mechanisms provide preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic implications for ESCCs.	Homo sapiens				>10	2	Yes
26726318	Review and Opinion			Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology Oncology and Cancer Research Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston MA 02215	Willis NA, Rass E, Scully R	Deciphering the Code of the Cancer Genome: Mechanisms of Chromosome Rearrangement	Trends Cancer	2015 Dec	Chromosome rearrangement plays a causal role in tumorigenesis by contributing to the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes, the dysregulated expression or amplification of oncogenes and the generation of novel gene fusions. Chromosome breaks are important intermediates in this process. How, when and where these breaks arise and the specific mechanisms engaged in their repair strongly influence the resulting patterns of chromosome rearrangement. Here, we review recent progress in understanding how certain distinctive features of the cancer genome, including clustered mutagenesis, tandem segmental duplications, complex breakpoints, chromothripsis, chromoplexy and chromoanasynthesis may arise.							
26722116	Methodology			Center of Growth, Metabolism, and Aging, Key Laboratory of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, China	Yang J, Deng G, Cai H	ChromothripsisDB: a curated database of chromothripsis	Bioinformatics	2016 May	Chromothripsis is a single catastrophic event that can lead to massive genomic rearrangements confined to one or a few chromosomes. It provides an alternative paradigm in cancer development and changes the conventional view that cancer develops in a stepwise progression. The mechanisms underlying chromothripsis and their specific impact on tumorigenesis are still poorly understood, and further examination of a large number of identified chromothripsis samples is needed. Unfortunately, this data are difficult to access, as they are scattered across multiple publications, come in different formats and descriptions, or are hidden in figures and supplementary materials. To improve access to this data and promote meta-analysis, we developed ChromothripsisDB, a manually curated database containing a unified description of all published chromothripsis cases and relevant genomic aberrations. Currently, 423 chromothripsis samples representing 107 research articles are included in our database. ChromothripsisDB represents an extraordinary resource for mining the existing knowledge of chromothripsis, and will facilitate the identification of mechanisms involved in this phenomenon.							
26703575	Review and Opinion			Institute of Immunology  and Experimental Oncology, Center for Biomedical Education and Research (ZBAF), University of Witten/Herdecke, Witten 58453, Germany	Dittmar T, Zanker KS	Tissue Regeneration in the Chronically Inflamed Tumor Environment: Implications for Cell Fusion Driven Tumor Progression and Therapy Resistant Tumor Hybrid Cells	Int J Mol Sci	2015 Dec	The biological phenomenon of cell fusion in a cancer context is still a matter of controversial debates. Even though a plethora of in vitro and in vivo data have been published in the past decades the ultimate proof that tumor hybrid cells could originate in (human) cancers and could contribute to the progression of the disease is still missing, suggesting that the cell fusion hypothesis is rather fiction than fact. However, is the lack of this ultimate proof a valid argument against this hypothesis, particularly if one has to consider that appropriate markers do not (yet) exist, thus making it virtually impossible to identify a human tumor cell clearly as a tumor hybrid cell. In the present review, we will summarize the evidence supporting the cell fusion in cancer concept. Moreover, we will refine the cell fusion hypothesis by providing evidence that cell fusion is a potent inducer of aneuploidy, genomic instability and, most likely, even chromothripsis, suggesting that cell fusion, like mutations and aneuploidy, might be an inducer of a mutator phenotype. Finally, we will show that "accidental" tissue repair processes during cancer therapy could lead to the origin of therapy resistant cancer hybrid stem cells.							
26689541	Research	Congenital abnormality	array CGH	Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, Federico II University, Naples, Italy	Genesio R, Fontana P, Mormile A, Casertano A, Falco M, Conti A, Franzese A, Mozzillo E, Nitsch L, Melis D	Constitutional chromothripsis involving the critical region of 9q21.13 microdeletion syndrome	Mol Cytogenet.	2015 Dec	Background: The chromothripsis is a biological phenomenon, first observed in tumors and then rapidly described in congenital disorders. The principle of the chromothripsis process is the occurrence of a local shattering to pieces and rebuilding of chromosomes in a random order. Congenital chromothripsis rearrangements often involve reciprocal rearrangements on multiple chromosomes and have been described as cause of contiguous gene syndromes. We hypothesize that chromothripsis could be responsible for known 9q21.13 microdeletion syndrome, causing a composite phenotype with additional features. CASE PRESENTATION: The case reported is a 16- years-old female with a complex genomic rearrangement of chromosome 9 including the critical region of 9q21.13 microdeletion syndrome. The patient presents with platelet disorder and thyroid dysfunction in addition to the classical neurobehavioral phenotype of the syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of multiple rearrangements on the same chromosome 9 and the rebuilding of chromosome in a random order suggested that the rearrangement could origin from an event of chromthripsis. To our knowledge this is the first report of congenital chromothripsis involving chromosome 9. Furthermore this is the only case of 9q21.13 microdeletion syndrome due to chromothripsis.	Homo sapiens				>10	2	No
26687355	Research	Retinal pigment epithelial cell line RPE-1	Next Generation Sequencing	Laboratory for Cell Biology and Genetics, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA	Maciejowski J, Li Y, Bosco N, Campbell PJ, de Lange T	Chromothripsis and Kataegis Induced by Telomere Crisis	Cell	2015 Dec	Telomere crisis occurs during tumorigenesis when depletion of the telomere reserve leads to frequent telomere fusions. The resulting dicentric chromosomes have been proposed to drive genome instability. Here, we examine the fate of dicentric human chromosomes in telomere crisis. We observed that dicentric chromosomes invariably persisted through mitosis and developed into 50-200 um chromatin bridges connecting the daughter cells. Before their resolution at 3-20 hr after anaphase, the chromatin bridges induced nuclear envelope rupture in interphase, accumulated the cytoplasmic 3' nuclease TREX1, and developed RPA-coated single stranded (ss) DNA. CRISPR knockouts showed that TREX1 contributed to the generation of the ssDNA and the resolution of the chromatin bridges. Post-crisis clones showed chromothripsis and kataegis, presumably resulting from DNA repair and APOBEC editing of the fragmented chromatin bridge DNA. We propose that chromothripsis in human cancer may arise through TREX1-mediated fragmentation of dicentric chromosomes formed in telomere crisis.	Homo sapiens				>10	2--3	Yes
26523776	Research	Neuroblastomas	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Oncogenomics, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands	Valentijn LJ, Koster J, Zwijnenburg DA, Hasselt NE, van Sluis P, Volckmann R, van Noesel MM, George RE, Tytgat GA,, Molenaar JJ, Versteeg R	TERT rearrangements are frequent in neuroblastoma and identify aggressive tumors	Nat Genet	2015 Dec	Whole-genome sequencing detected structural rearrangements of TERT in 17 of 75 high-stage neuroblastomas, with five cases resulting from chromothripsis. Rearrangements were associated with increased TERT expression and targeted regions immediately up- and downstream of TERT, positioning a super-enhancer close to the breakpoints in seven cases. TERT rearrangements (23%), ATRX deletions (11%) and MYCN amplifications (37%) identify three almost non-overlapping groups of high-stage neuroblastoma, each associated with very poor prognosis.	Homo sapiens				>20	2--3	Yes
26459672	Review and Opinion	WHIM syndrome		Laboratory of Molecular Immunology; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, MD USA	McDermott DH, Gao JL, Murphy PM	Chromothriptic cure of WHIM syndrome: Implications for bone marrow transplantation	Rare Dis	2015 Aug	We recently reported a 59 year old female, designated WHIM-09, who was born with the rare immunodeficiency disease WHIM syndrome but underwent spontaneous phenotypic reversion as an adult. The causative WHIM mutation CXCR4 (R334X) was absent in her myeloid and erythroid lineage, but present in her lymphoid lineage and in epithelial cells, defining her as a somatic genetic mosaic. Genomic and hematologic analysis revealed chromothripsis (chromosome shattering) on one copy of chromosome 2, which deleted 164 genes including CXCR4 (R334X) in a single haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) (Fig. 1). Experiments in mice indicated that deleting one copy of Cxcr4 is sufficient to confer a selective advantage for engraftment of transplanted HSCs, suggesting a mechanism for clinical cure in WHIM-09. Genome editing may allow autologous transplantation of HSCs lacking one copy of CXCR4 without bone marrow conditioning as a general cure strategy in WHIM syndrome, safely recapitulating the outcome in patient WHIM-09. Figure 1.Chromothripsis (chromosomal shattering) resulted in clinical cure of a patient with a rare immunodeficiency (WHIM syndrome) by deleting the mutant copy of CXCR4	Homo sapiens						
26455580	Review and Opinion			Division of Molecular Genetics, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany	Rode A, Maass KK, Willmund KV, Lichter P, Ernst A	Chromothripsis in cancer cells: An update	Int J Cancer	2016 May	In 2011, a novel form of genome instability was reported by Stephens et al., characterized by tens to hundreds of locally clustered rearrangements affecting one or a few chromosome(s) in cancer cells. This phenomenon, termed chromothripsis, is likely due to a single catastrophic event leading to the simultaneous formation of multiple double-strand breaks, which are repaired by error-prone mechanisms. Since then, the occurrence of chromothripsis was detected in a wide range of tumor entities. In this review, we will discuss potential mechanisms of chromothripsis initiation in cancer and outline the prevalence of chromothripsis across entities. Furthermore, we will examine how chromothriptic events may promote cancer development and how they may affect cancer therapy.							
26442848	Review and Opinion			Department of Pediatric Oncology	Leibowitz ML, Zhang CZ, Pellman D	Chromothripsis: A New Mechanism for Rapid Karyotype Evolution	Annu Rev Genet	2015 Oct	Chromosomal rearrangements are generally thought to accumulate gradually over many generations. However, DNA sequencing of cancer and congenital disorders uncovered a new pattern in which multiple rearrangements arise all at once. The most striking example, chromothripsis, is characterized by tens or hundreds of rearrangements confined to a single chromosome or to local regions over a few chromosomes. Genomic analysis of chromothripsis and the search for its biological mechanism have led to new insights on how chromosome segregation errors can generate mutagenesis and changes to the karyotype. Here, we review the genomic features of chromothripsis and summarize recent progress on understanding its mechanism. This includes reviewing new work indicating that one mechanism to generate chromothripsis is through the physical isolation of chromosomes in abnormal nuclear structures (micronuclei). We also discuss connections revealed by recent genomic analysis of cancers between chromothripsis, chromosome bridges, and ring chromosomes.							
26439695	Research	Breast cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Division of Oncology and Pathology, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden	Tang MH, Dahlgren M, Brueffer C, Tjitrowirjo T, Winter C, Chen Y, Olsson E, Wang K, Torngren T, Sjostrom M, Grabau D, Bendahl PO, Ryden L, Nimeus E, Saal LH, Borg A, Gruvberger-Saal SK	Remarkable similarities of chromosomal rearrangements between primary human breast cancers and matched distant metastases as revealed by whole-genome sequencing	Oncotarget	2015 Nov	To better understand and characterize chromosomal structural variation during breast cancer progression, we enumerated chromosomal rearrangements for 11 patients by performing low-coverage whole-genome sequencing of 11 primary breast tumors and their 13 matched distant metastases. The tumor genomes harbored a median of 85 (range 18-404) rearrangements per tumor, with a median of 82 (26-310) in primaries compared to 87 (18-404) in distant metastases. Concordance between paired tumors from the same patient was high with a median of 89% of rearrangements shared (range 61-100%), whereas little overlap was found when comparing all possible pairings of tumors from different patients (median 3%). The tumors exhibited diverse genomic patterns of rearrangements: some carried events distributed throughout the genome while others had events mostly within densely clustered chromothripsis-like foci at a few chromosomal locations. Irrespectively, the patterns were highly conserved between the primary tumor and metastases from the same patient. Rearrangements occurred more frequently in genic areas than expected by chance and among the genes affected there was significant enrichment for cancer-associated genes including disruption of TP53, RB1, PTEN, and ESR1, likely contributing to tumor development. Our findings are most consistent with chromosomal rearrangements being early events in breast cancer progression that remain stable during the development from primary tumor to distant metastasis.	Homo sapiens				>10	>3	No
26366555	Review and Opinion			Division of Neuroscience , Oregon National Primate Research Center	Carbone L, Chavez SL	Mammalian pre-implantation chromosomal instability: species comparison, evolutionary considerations, and pathological correlations	Syst Biol Reprod Med	2015 Sep	Pre-implantation embryo development in mammals begins at fertilization with the migration and fusion of the maternal and paternal pro-nuclei, followed by the degradation of inherited factors involved in germ cell specification and the activation of embryonic genes required for subsequent cell divisions, compaction, and blastulation. The majority of studies on early embryogenesis have been conducted in the mouse or non-mammalian species, often requiring extrapolation of the findings to human development. Given both conserved similarities and species-specific differences, however, even comparison between closely related mammalian species may be challenging as certain aspects, including susceptibility to chromosomal aberrations, varies considerably across mammals. Moreover, most human embryo studies are limited to patient samples obtained from in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics and donated for research, which are generally of poorer quality and produced with germ cells that may be sub-optimal. Recent technical advances in genetic, epigenetic, chromosomal, and time-lapse imaging analyses of high quality whole human embryos have greatly improved our understanding of early human embryogenesis, particularly at the single embryo and cell level. This review summarizes the major characteristics of mammalian pre-implantation development from a chromosomal perspective, in addition to discussing the technological achievements that have recently been developed to obtain this data. We also discuss potential translation to clinical applications in reproductive medicine and conclude by examining the broader implications of these findings for the evolution of mammalian species and cancer pathology in somatic cells.							
26209074	Review and Opinion			Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA	Weckselblatt B, Rudd MK	Human Structural Variation: Mechanisms of Chromosome Rearrangements	Trends Genet	2015 Oct								
26312826	Research	Gilles de la Tourette syndrome	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Clinical Genetics, Applied Human Molecular Genetics, Kennedy Center, Copenhagen University Hospital, Glostrup, Denmark	Bertelsen B, Nazaryan-Petersen L, Sun W, Mehrjouy MM, Xie G, Chen W, Hjermind LE, Taschner PE, Tumer Z	A germline chromothripsis event stably segregating in 11 individuals through three generations	Genet Med	2016 May	PURPOSE: Parentally transmitted germ-line chromothripsis (G-CTH) has been identified in only a few cases. Most of these rearrangements were stably transmitted, in an unbalanced form, from a healthy mother to her child with congenital abnormalities probably caused by de novo copy-number changes of dosage sensitive genes. We describe a G-CTH transmitted through three generations in 11 healthy carriers. METHODS: Conventional cytogenetic analysis, mate-pair sequencing, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to identify the chromosome rearrangement and characterize the breakpoints in all three generations. RESULTS: We identified an apparently balanced translocation t(3;5), later shown to be a G-CTH, in all individuals of a three-generation family. The G-CTH stably segregated without occurrence of additional rearrangements; however, several spontaneous abortions were reported, possibly due to unbalanced transmission. Although seven protein-coding genes are interrupted, no clinical features can be definitively attributed to the affected genes. However, it can be speculated that truncation of one of these genes, encoding ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein kinase (ATR), a key component of the DNA damage response, may be related to G-CTH formation. CONCLUSION: G-CTH rearrangements are not always associated with abnormal phenotypes and may be misinterpreted as balanced two-way translocations, suggesting that G-CTH is an underdiagnosed phenomenon.Genet Med 18 5, 494-500.	Homo sapiens				6	2	Yes
29073611	Research	Recurrent pregnancy loss	Next Generation Sequencing	Division of Molecular Genetics, Institute for Comprehensive Medical Science (ICMS), Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan	Kato T, Ouchi Y, Inagaki H, Makita Y, Mizuno S, Kajita M, Ikeda T, Takeuchi K, Kurahashi H	Genomic Characterization of Chromosomal Insertions: Insights into the Mechanisms Underlying Chromothripsis	Cytogenet Genome Res.	2017 Oct	Chromosomal insertions are rare structural rearrangements, and the molecular mechanisms underlying their origin are unknown. In this study, we used whole genome sequencing to analyze breakpoints and junction sequences in 4 patients with chromosomal insertions. Our analysis revealed that none of the 4 cases involved a simple insertion mediated by a 3-chromosomal breakage and rejoining events. The inserted fragments consisted of multiple pieces derived from a localized genomic region, which were shuffled and rejoined in a disorderly fashion with variable copy number alterations. The junctions were blunt ended or with short microhomologies or short microinsertions, suggesting the involvement of nonhomologous end-joining. In one case, analysis of the parental origin of the chromosomes using nucleotide variations within the insertion revealed that maternal chromosomal segments were inserted into the paternal chromosome. This patient also carried both maternal alleles, suggesting the presence of zygotic trisomy. These data indicate that chromosomal shattering may occur in association with trisomy rescue in the early postzygotic stage.	Homo sapiens				6	>=2	Yes
29073611	Research	Recurrent pregnancy loss	Next Generation Sequencing	Division of Molecular Genetics, Institute for Comprehensive Medical Science (ICMS), Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan	Kato T, Ouchi Y, Inagaki H, Makita Y, Mizuno S, Kajita M, Ikeda T, Takeuchi K, Kurahashi H	Genomic Characterization of Chromosomal Insertions: Insights into the Mechanisms Underlying Chromothripsis	Cytogenet Genome Res.	2017 Oct	Chromosomal insertions are rare structural rearrangements, and the molecular mechanisms underlying their origin are unknown. In this study, we used whole genome sequencing to analyze breakpoints and junction sequences in 4 patients with chromosomal insertions. Our analysis revealed that none of the 4 cases involved a simple insertion mediated by a 3-chromosomal breakage and rejoining events. The inserted fragments consisted of multiple pieces derived from a localized genomic region, which were shuffled and rejoined in a disorderly fashion with variable copy number alterations. The junctions were blunt ended or with short microhomologies or short microinsertions, suggesting the involvement of nonhomologous end-joining. In one case, analysis of the parental origin of the chromosomes using nucleotide variations within the insertion revealed that maternal chromosomal segments were inserted into the paternal chromosome. This patient also carried both maternal alleles, suggesting the presence of zygotic trisomy. These data indicate that chromosomal shattering may occur in association with trisomy rescue in the early postzygotic stage.	Homo sapiens				6	>=2	Yes
28787462	Research	Ovarian cancer	Array CGH	Genetics Branch, CCR, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America	Rozenblum E, Sotelo-Silveira JR, Kim GY, Zhu JY, Lau CC, McNeil N, Korolevich S, Liao H,, Cherry JM, Munroe DJ,, Ried T, Meltzer PS, Kuehl WM, Roschke AV	Novel near-diploid ovarian cancer cell line derived from a highly aneuploid metastatic ovarian tumor	PLoS One	2017 Aug	A new ovarian near-diploid cell line, OVDM1, was derived from a highly aneuploid serous ovarian metastatic adenocarcinoma. A metastatic tumor was obtained from a 47-year-old Ashkenazi Jewish patient three years after the first surgery removed the primary tumor, both ovaries, and the remaining reproductive organs. OVDM1 was characterized by cell morphology, genotyping, tumorigenic assay, mycoplasma testing, spectral karyotyping (SKY), and molecular profiling of the whole genome by aCGH and gene expression microarray. Targeted sequencing of a panel of cancer-related genes was also performed. Hierarchical clustering of gene expression data clearly confirmed the ovarian origin of the cell line. OVDM1 has a near-diploid karyotype with a low-level aneuploidy, but samples of the original metastatic tumor were grossly aneuploid. A number of single nucleotide variations (SNVs)/mutations were detected in OVDM1 and the metastatic tumor samples. Some of them were cancer-related according to COSMIC and HGMD databases (no founder mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 have been found). A large number of focal copy number alterations (FCNAs) were detected, including homozygous deletions (HDs) targeting WWOX and GATA4. Progression of OVDM1 from early to late passages was accompanied by preservation of the near-diploid status, acquisition of only few additional large chromosomal rearrangements and more than 100 new small FCNAs. Most of newly acquired FCNAs seem to be related to localized but massive DNA fragmentation (chromothripsis-like rearrangements). Newly developed near-diploid OVDM1 cell line offers an opportunity to evaluate tumorigenesis pathways/events in a minor clone of metastatic ovarian adenocarcinoma as well as mechanisms of chromothripsis.	Homo sapiens	GSE70264			NA	NA	NA
28643781	Research	osteosarcoma	Next Generation Sequencing	Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SA, UK	Behjati S, Tarpey PS, Haase K, Ye H, Young MD, Alexandrov LB, Farndon SJ, Collord G, Wedge DC, Martincorena I, Cooke SL, Davies H, Mifsud W, Lidgren M, Martin S, Latimer C, Maddison M, Butler AP, Teague JW, Pillay N, Shlien A, McDermott U, Futreal PA, Baumhoer D, Zaikova O, Bjerkehagen B, Myklebost O, Amary MF, Tirabosco R, Van Loo P, Stratton MR, Flanagan AM, Campbell PJ	Recurrent mutation of IGF signalling genes and distinct patterns of genomic rearrangement in osteosarcoma	Nat Commun	2017 Jun	Osteosarcoma is a primary malignancy of bone that affects children and adults. Here, we present the largest sequencing study of osteosarcoma to date, comprising 112 childhood and adult tumours encompassing all major histological subtypes. A key finding of our study is the identification of mutations in insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signalling genes in 8/112 (7%) of cases. We validate this observation using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in an additional 87 osteosarcomas, with IGF1 receptor (IGF1R) amplification observed in 14% of tumours. These findings may inform patient selection in future trials of IGF1R inhibitors in osteosarcoma. Analysing patterns of mutation, we identify distinct rearrangement profiles including a process characterized by chromothripsis and amplification. This process operates recurrently at discrete genomic regions and generates driver mutations. It may represent an age-independent mutational mechanism that contributes to the development of osteosarcoma in children and adults alike.	Homo sapiens				>20	2	Yes
28588432	Review and Opinion			Department of Human Genetics, University of Wurzburg, Biozentrum, Am Hubland, DE-97074 Wurzburg	Poot M	Of Simple and Complex Genome Rearrangements, Chromothripsis, Chromoanasynthesis, and Chromosome Chaos	Mol Syndromol	2017 May	No abstract available.							
28512242	Research	Colorectal cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Department of Genetics, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, CX Utrecht, the Netherlands	Kloosterman WP, Coebergh van den Braak RRJ, Pieterse M, van Roosmalen MJ, Sieuwerts AM, Stangl C, Brunekreef R, Lalmahomed ZS, Ooft S, van Galen A, Smid M, Lefebvre A, Zwartkruis F, Martens JWM, Foekens JA, Biermann K, Koudijs MJ, Ijzermans JNM, Voest EE	A Systematic Analysis of Oncogenic Gene Fusions in Primary Colon Cancer	Cancer Res	2017 Jul	Genomic rearrangements that give rise to oncogenic gene fusions can offer actionable targets for cancer therapy. Here we present a systematic analysis of oncogenic gene fusions among a clinically well-characterized, prospectively collected set of 278 primary colon cancers spanning diverse tumor stages and clinical outcomes. Gene fusions and somatic genetic variations were identified in fresh frozen clinical specimens by Illumina RNA-sequencing, the STAR fusion gene detection pipeline, and GATK RNA-seq variant calling. We considered gene fusions to be pathogenically relevant when recurrent, producing divergent gene expression (outlier analysis), or as functionally important (e.g., kinase fusions). Overall, 2.5% of all specimens were defined as harboring a relevant gene fusion (kinase fusions 1.8%). Novel configurations of BRAF, NTRK3, and RET gene fusions resulting from chromosomal translocations were identified. An R-spondin fusion was found in only one tumor (0.35%), much less than an earlier reported frequency of 10% in colorectal cancers. We also found a novel fusion involving USP9X-ERAS formed by chromothripsis and leading to high expression of ERAS, a constitutively active RAS protein normally expressed only in embryonic stem cells. This USP9X-ERAS fusion appeared highly oncogenic on the basis of its ability to activate AKT signaling. Oncogenic fusions were identified only in lymph node-negative tumors that lacked BRAF or KRAS mutations. In summary, we identified several novel oncogenic gene fusions in colorectal cancer that may drive malignant development and offer new targets for personalized therapy. 	Homo sapiens				>18	3	Yes
28494505	Research	Osteosarcoma	Array CGH	Institute of Radiation Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany	Smida J, Xu H, Zhang Y, Baumhoer D, Ribi S, Kovac M, von Luettichau I, Bielack S, O'Leary VB, Leib-Mosch C, Frishman D, Nathrath M	Genome-wide analysis of somatic copy number alterations and chromosomal breakages in osteosarcoma	Int J Cancer	2017 Aug	Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. It is characterized by highly complex karyotypes with structural and numerical chromosomal alterations. The observed OS-specific characteristics in localization and frequencies of chromosomal breakages strongly implicate a specific set of responsible driver genes or a specific mechanism of fragility induction. In this study, a comprehensive assessment of somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) was performed in 160 OS samples using whole-genome CytoScan High Density arrays (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). Genes or regions frequently targeted by SCNAs were identified. Breakage analysis revealed OS specific unstable regions in which well-known OS tumor suppressor genes, including TP53, RB1, WWOX, DLG2 and LSAMP are located. Certain genomic features, such as transposable elements and non-B DNA-forming motifs were found to be significantly enriched in the vicinity of chromosomal breakage sites. A complex breakage pattern-chromothripsis-has been suggested as a widespread phenomenon in OS. It was further demonstrated that hyperploidy and in particular chromothripsis were strongly correlated with OS patient clinical outcome. The revealed OS-specific fragility pattern provides novel clues for understanding the biology of OS.	Homo sapiens				12		NA
28357089	Research	Colorectal cancer	SNParray	Clinic of Oncology, Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital, LV-1002 Riga, Latvia; Institute of Oncology, Riga Stradins University, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia	Skuja E, Kalniete D, Nakazawa-Miklasevica M, Daneberga Z, Abolins A, Purkalne G, Miklasevics E	Chromothripsis and progression-free survival in metastatic colorectal cancer	Mol Clin Oncol	2017 Feb	Metastatic dissemination of the primary tumor is the major cause of death in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Multiple chromosomal breaks and chromothripsis, a phenomenon involving multiple chromosomal fragmentations occurring in a single catastrophic event, are associated with cancer genesis, progression and developing of metastases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of chromothripsis and total breakpoint count (breakpoint instability index) on progression-free survival (PFS). A total of 19 patients with metastatic CRC (mCRC) receiving FOLFOX first-line palliative chemotherapy between August, 2011 and October, 2012 were selected for this study. The results indicated that the highest breakpoint count was observed in chromosomes 1, 2 and 6. Chromothripsis was detected in 52.6% of the study patients. Furthermore, chromothripsis was associated with an increased median PFS (mPFS; 14 vs. 8 months, respectively; P=0.03), but an association with overall survival was not identified. The present study demonstrated that chromothripsis affected CRC patient survival, suggesting a role for this event as a prognostic and predictive marker in mCRC treatment.	Homo sapiens				>100	NA	NA
28342454	Review and Opinion			Institut fur Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Universitat Wurzburg, Germany; Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Erlangen, Germany	Hintzsche H, Hemmann U, Poth A, Utesch D, Lott J, Stopper H; Working Group 'In vitro micronucleus test', Gesellschaft fur Umwelt-Mutationsforschung (GUM, German-speaking section of the European Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society EEMGS)	Fate of micronuclei and micronucleated cells	Mutat Res	2017 Jan - Mar	The present review describes available evidence about the fate of micronuclei and micronucleated cells. Micronuclei are small, extranuclear chromatin bodies surrounded by a nuclear envelope. The mechanisms underlying the formation of micronuclei are well understood but not much is known about the potential fate of micronuclei and micronucleated cells. Many studies with different experimental approaches addressed the various aspects of the post-mitotic fate of micronuclei and micronucleated cells. These studies are reviewed here considering four basic possibilities for potential fates of micronuclei: degradation of the micronucleus or the micronucleated cell, reincorporation into the main nucleus, extrusion from the cell, and persistence in the cytoplasm. Two additional fates need to be considered: premature chromosome condensation/chromothripsis and the elimination of micronucleated cells by apoptosis, yielding six potential fates for micronuclei and/or micronucleated cells. The available data is still limited, but it can be concluded that degradation and extrusion of micronuclei might occur in rare cases under specific conditions, reincorporation during the next mitosis occurs more frequently, and the majority of the micronuclei persist without alteration at least until the next mitosis, possibly much longer. Overall, the consequences of micronucleus formation on the cellular level are still far from clear, but they should be investigated further because micronucleus formation may contribute to the initial and later steps of malignant cell transformation, by causing gain or loss of genetic material in the daughter cells and by the possibility of massive chromosome rearrangement in chromosomes entrapped within a micronucleus by the mechanisms of chromothripsis and chromoanagenesis.							
28260531	Research	Autism spectrum disorder	Next Generation Sequencing	Molecular Neurogenetics Unit and Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, and Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA	Collins RL, Brand H, Redin CE, Hanscom C, Antolik C, Stone MR, Glessner JT, Mason T, Pregno G, Dorrani N, Mandrile G, Giachino D, Perrin D, Walsh C, Cipicchio M, Costello M, Stortchevoi A, An JY, Currall BB, Seabra CM, Ragavendran A, Margolin L, Martinez-Agosto JA, Lucente D, Levy B, Sanders SJ, Wapner RJ, Quintero-Rivera F, Kloosterman W, Talkowski ME	Defining the diverse spectrum of inversions, complex structural variation, and chromothripsis in the morbid human genome	Genome Biol	2017 Mar	BACKGROUND: Structural variation (SV) influences genome organization and contributes to human disease. However, the complete mutational spectrum of SV has not been routinely captured in disease association studies. RESULTS: We sequenced 689 participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental abnormalities to construct a genome-wide map of large SV. Using long-insert jumping libraries at 105X mean physical coverage and linked-read whole-genome sequencing from 10X Genomics, we document seven major SV classes at ~5 kb SV resolution. Our results encompass 11,735 distinct large SV sites, 38.1% of which are novel and 16.8% of which are balanced or complex. We characterize 16 recurrent subclasses of complex SV (cxSV), revealing that: (1) cxSV are larger and rarer than canonical SV; (2) each genome harbors 14 large cxSV on average; (3) 84.4% of large cxSVs involve inversion; and (4) most large cxSV (93.8%) have not been delineated in previous studies. Rare SVs are more likely to disrupt coding and regulatory non-coding loci, particularly when truncating constrained and disease-associated genes. We also identify multiple cases of catastrophic chromosomal rearrangements known as chromoanagenesis, including somatic chromoanasynthesis, and extreme balanced germline chromothripsis events involving up to 65 breakpoints and 60.6 Mb across four chromosomes, further defining rare categories of extreme cxSV. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide a foundational map of large SV in the morbid human genome and demonstrate a previously underappreciated abundance and diversity of cxSV that should be considered in genomic studies of human disease.	Homo sapiens				>=9	2	Yes
28244221	Review and Opinion			CNRS UMR 8200, Institut de Cancerologie Gustave-Roussy, Universite Paris-Saclay, Equipe Labellisee Ligue Contre le Cancer, Villejuif, France	So A, Le Guen T, Lopez BS, Guirouilh-Barbat J	Genomic rearrangements induced by unscheduled DNA double strand breaks in somatic mammalian cells	FEBS J	2017 Aug	DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are highly toxic lesions that can lead to profound genome rearrangements and/or cell death. They routinely occur in genomes due to endogenous or exogenous stresses. Efficient repair systems, canonical non-homologous end-joining and homologous recombination exist in the cell and not only ensure the maintenance of genome integrity but also, via specific programmed DNA double-strand breaks, permit its diversity and plasticity. However, these repair systems need to be tightly controlled because they can also generate genomic rearrangements. Thus, when DSB repair is not properly regulated, genome integrity is no longer guaranteed. In this review, we will focus on non-programmed genome rearrangements generated by DSB repair, in somatic cells. We first discuss genome rearrangements induced by homologous recombination and end-joining. We then discuss recently described rearrangement mechanisms, driven by microhomologies, that do not involve the joining of DNA ends but rather initiate DNA synthesis (microhomology-mediated break-induced replication, fork stalling and template switching and microhomology-mediated template switching). Finally, we discuss chromothripsis, which is the shattering of a localized region of the genome followed by erratic rejoining.							
28201779	Research	Glioblastoma	Array CGH	Institut fur Klinische Genetik, Medizinische Fakultat Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universitat Dresden, Dresden, Germany	Abou-El-Ardat K, Seifert M, Becker K, Eisenreich S, Lehmann M, Hackmann K, Rump A, Meijer G, Carvalho B, Temme A, Schackert G, Schrock E, Krex D, Klink B	Comprehensive molecular characterization of multifocal glioblastoma proves its monoclonal origin and reveals novel insights into clonal evolution and heterogeneity of glioblastomas	Neuro Oncol	2017 Apr	The evolution of primary glioblastoma (GBM) is poorly understood. Multifocal GBM (ie, multiple synchronous lesions in one patient) could elucidate GBM development. METHODS: We present the first comprehensive study of 12 GBM foci from 6 patients using array-CGH, spectral karyotyping, gene expression arrays, and next-generation sequencing. RESULTS: Multifocal GBMs genetically resemble primary GBMs. Comparing foci from the same patient proved their monoclonal origin. All tumors harbored alterations in the 3 GBM core pathways: RTK/PI3K, p53, and RB regulatory pathways with aberrations of EGFR and CDKN2A/B in all (100%) patients. This unexpected high frequency reflects a distinct genetic signature of multifocal GBMs and might account for their highly malignant and invasive phenotype. Surprisingly, the types of mutations in these genes/pathways were different in tumor foci from the same patients. For example, we found distinct mutations/aberrations in PTEN, TP53, EGFR, and CDKN2A/B, which therefore must have occurred independently and late during tumor development. We also identified chromothripsis as a late event and in tumors with wild-type TP53. Only 2 events were found to be early in all patients: single copy loss of PTEN and TERT promoter point mutations. CONCLUSIONS: Multifocal GBMs develop through parallel genetic evolution. The high frequency of alterations in 3 main pathways suggests that these are essential steps in GBM evolution; however, their late occurrence indicates that they are not founder events but rather subclonal drivers. This might account for the marked genetic heterogeneity seen in primary GBM and therefore has important implications for GBM therapy.	Homo sapiens				>9	2	No
28196983	Research	Acute lymphoblastic leukemia	Next Generation Sequencing	Division of Molecular Genetics, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany	Ratnaparkhe M, Hlevnjak M, Kolb T, Jauch A, Maass KK, Devens F, Rode A, Hovestadt V, Korshunov A, Pastorczak A, Mlynarski W, Sungalee S, Korbel J, Hoell J, Fischer U, Milde T, Kramm C, Nathrath M, Chrzanowska K, Tausch E, Takagi M, Taga T, Constantini S, Loeffen J, Meijerink J, Zielen S, Gohring G, Schlegelberger B, Maass E, Siebert R, Kunz J, Kulozik AE, Worst B, Jones DT, Pfister SM, Zapatka M, Lichter P, Ernst A	Genomic profiling of Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in ataxia telangiectasia patients reveals tight link between ATM mutations and chromothripsis	Leukemia	2017 Oct	Recent developments in sequencing technologies led to the discovery of a novel form of genomic instability, termed chromothripsis. This catastrophic genomic event, involved in tumorigenesis, is characterized by tens to hundreds of simultaneously acquired locally clustered rearrangements on one chromosome. We hypothesized that leukemias developing in individuals with Ataxia Telangiectasia, who are born with two mutated copies of the ATM gene, an essential guardian of genome stability, would show a higher prevalence of chromothripsis due to the associated defect in DNA double-strand break repair. Using whole-genome sequencing, fluorescence in situ hybridization and RNA sequencing, we characterized the genomic landscape of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) arising in patients with Ataxia Telangiectasia. We detected a high frequency of chromothriptic events in these tumors, specifically on acrocentric chromosomes, as compared with tumors from individuals with other types of DNA repair syndromes (27 cases total, 10 with Ataxia Telangiectasia). Our data suggest that the genomic landscape of Ataxia Telangiectasia ALL is clearly distinct from that of sporadic ALL. Mechanistically, short telomeres and compromised DNA damage response in cells of Ataxia Telangiectasia patients may be linked with frequent chromothripsis. Furthermore, we show that ATM loss is associated with increased chromothripsis prevalence in additional tumor entities.	Homo sapiens				>10	2--3	Yes
28126037	Research	Multiple congenital abnormalities and/or mental retardation	Next Generation Sequencing	Center for Molecular Medicine and Cancer Genomics Netherlands, Division Biomedical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universiteitsweg 100, Utrecht, 3584CG, The Netherlands	Middelkamp S, van Heesch S, Braat AK, de Ligt J, van Iterson M, Simonis M, van Roosmalen MJ, Kelder MJ, Kruisselbrink E, Hochstenbach R, Verbeek NE, Ippel EF, Adolfs Y, Pasterkamp RJ, Kloosterman WP, Kuijk EW, Cuppen E	Molecular dissection of germline chromothripsis in a developmental context using patient-derived iPS cells	Genome Med	2017 Jan	BACKGROUND: Germline chromothripsis causes complex genomic rearrangements that are likely to affect multiple genes and their regulatory contexts. The contribution of individual rearrangements and affected genes to the phenotypes of patients with complex germline genomic rearrangements is generally unknown. METHODS: To dissect the impact of germline chromothripsis in a relevant developmental context, we performed trio-based RNA expression analysis on blood cells, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and iPSC-derived neuronal cells from a patient with de novo germline chromothripsis and both healthy parents. In addition, Hi-C and 4C-seq experiments were performed to determine the effects of the genomic rearrangements on transcription regulation of genes in the proximity of the breakpoint junctions. RESULTS: Sixty-seven genes are located within 1 Mb of the complex chromothripsis rearrangements involving 17 breakpoints on four chromosomes. We find that three of these genes (FOXP1, DPYD, and TWIST1) are both associated with developmental disorders and differentially expressed in the patient. Interestingly, the effect on TWIST1 expression was exclusively detectable in the patient's iPSC-derived neuronal cells, stressing the need for studying developmental disorders in the biologically relevant context. Chromosome conformation capture analyses show that TWIST1 lost genomic interactions with several enhancers due to the chromothripsis event, which likely led to deregulation of TWIST1 expression and contributed to the patient's craniosynostosis phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that a combination of patient-derived iPSC differentiation and trio-based molecular profiling is a powerful approach to improve the interpretation of pathogenic complex genomic rearrangements. Here we have applied this approach to identify misexpression of TWIST1, FOXP1, and DPYD as key contributors to the complex congenital phenotype resulting from germline chromothripsis rearrangements.	Homo sapiens				>13	2	Yes
28119329	Research	Acute myeloid leukemia	Array CGH	Clinical Cooperation Unit Molecular Hematology/Oncology, German Cancer Research Center	Bochtler T, Granzow M, Stolzel F, Kunz C, Mohr B, Kartal-Kaess M, Hinderhofer K, Heilig CE, Kramer M, Thiede C, Endris V, Kirchner M, Stenzinger A, Benner A, Bornhauser M, Ehninger G, Ho AD, Jauch A, Kramer A,; Study Alliance Leukemia Investigators	Marker chromosomes can arise from chromothripsis and predict adverse prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia	Blood	2017 Mar	Metaphase karyotyping is an established diagnostic standard in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) for risk stratification. One of the cytogenetic findings in AML is structurally highly abnormal marker chromosomes. In this study, we have assessed frequency, cytogenetic characteristics, prognostic impact, and underlying biological origin of marker chromosomes. Given their inherent gross structural chromosomal damage, we speculated that they may arise from chromothripsis, a recently described phenomenon of chromosome fragmentation in a single catastrophic event. In 2 large consecutive prospective, randomized, multicenter, intensive chemotherapy trials (AML96, AML2003) from the Study Alliance Leukemia, marker chromosomes were detectable in 165/1026 (16.1%) of aberrant non-core-binding-factor (CBF) karyotype patients. Adverse-risk karyotypes displayed a higher frequency of marker chromosomes (26.5% in adverse-risk, 40.3% in complex aberrant, and 41.2% in abnormality(17p) karyotypes, P < .0001 each). Marker chromosomes were associated with a poorer prognosis compared with other non-CBF aberrant karyotypes and led to lower remission rates (complete remission + complete remission with incomplete recovery), inferior event-free survival as well as overall survival in both trials. In multivariate analysis, marker chromosomes independently predicted poor prognosis in the AML96 trial less than 60 years. As detected by array comparative genomic hybridization, about one-third of marker chromosomes (18/49) had arisen from chromothripsis, whereas this phenomenon was virtually undetectable in a control group of marker chromosome-negative complex aberrant karyotypes (1/34). The chromothripsis-positive cases were characterized by a particularly high degree of karyotype complexity, TP53 mutations, and dismal prognosis. In conclusion, marker chromosomes are indicative of chromothripsis and associated with poor prognosis per se and not merely by association with other adverse cytogenetic features.	Homo sapiens	GSE93886			>10	2--3	No
28099951	Research	Ovarian Dysfunction	Array CGH	Department of Molecular Endocrinology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan	Suzuki E, Shima H, Toki M, Hanew K, Matsubara K, Kurahashi H, Narumi S, Ogata T, Kamimaki T, Fukami M	Complex X-Chromosomal Rearrangements in Two Women with Ovarian Dysfunction: Implications of Chromothripsis/Chromoanasynthesis-Dependent and -Independent Origins of Complex Genomic Alterations	Cytogenet Genome Res	2016	Our current understanding of the phenotypic consequences and the molecular basis of germline complex chromosomal rearrangements remains fragmentary. Here, we report the clinical and molecular characteristics of 2 women with germline complex X-chromosomal rearrangements. Patient 1 presented with nonsyndromic ovarian dysfunction and hyperthyroidism; patient 2 exhibited various Turner syndrome- associated symptoms including ovarian dysfunction, short stature, and autoimmune hypothyroidism. The genomic abnormalities of the patients were characterized by array-based comparative genomic hybridization, high-resolution karyotyping, microsatellite genotyping, X-inactivation analysis, and bisulfite sequencing. Patient 1 carried a rearrangement of unknown parental origin with a 46,X,der(X)(pter->p22.1::p11.23->q24::q21.3->q24::p11.4->pter) karyotype, indicative of a catastrophic chromosomal reconstruction due to chromothripsis/chromoanasynthesis. Patient 2 had a paternally derived isochromosome with a 46,X,der(X)(pter->p22.31::q22.1->q10::q10->q22.1::p22.31->pter) karyotype, which likely resulted from 2 independent, sequential events. Both patients showed completely skewed X inactivation. CpG sites at Xp22.3 were hypermethylated in patient 2. The results indicate that germline complex X-chromosomal rearrangements underlie nonsyndromic ovarian dysfunction and Turner syndrome. Disease-causative mechanisms of these rearrangements likely include aberrant DNA methylation, in addition to X-chromosomal mispairing and haploinsufficiency of genes escaping X inactivation. Notably, our data imply that germline complex X-chromosomal rearrangements are created through both chromothripsis/chromoanasynthesis-dependent and -independent processes.	Homo sapiens				6	3	No
28096526	Review and Opinion			Laboratory for Cell Biology and Genetics, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA	Maciejowski J, de Lange T	Telomeres in cancer: tumour suppression and genome instability	Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol	2017 Mar	The shortening of human telomeres has two opposing effects during cancer development. On the one hand, telomere shortening can exert a tumour-suppressive effect through the proliferation arrest induced by activating the kinases ATM and ATR at unprotected chromosome ends. On the other hand, loss of telomere protection can lead to telomere crisis, which is a state of extensive genome instability that can promote cancer progression. Recent data, reviewed here, provide new evidence for the telomere tumour suppressor pathway and has revealed that telomere crisis can induce numerous cancer-relevant changes, including chromothripsis, kataegis and tetraploidization.							
28085746	Research	Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia	Array CGH	Department of Pathology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX	Koduru PR, Wilson K, Wen J, Garcia R, Patel S, Monaghan SA	Cytogenetic and Cytogenomic Microarray Characterization of Chromothripsis in Chromosome 8 Affecting MOZ/NCOA2 (TIF2), FGFR1, RUNX1T1, and RUNX1 in a Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia	J Pediatr Hematol Oncol	2017 May	Concurrent perturbations in different driver genes have been reported primarily in lymphoma. In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), cases with concurrent alterations in 2 driver genes are infrequently reported. In contrast to pathogenetic pathways in lymphoma with concurrently perturbed genes, the initial gene alteration in AML arrests maturation and the alteration in the second gene promote self-renewal of the blasts. Here, we report a unique case of infantile leukemia in which chromothripsis in chromosome 8 completely altered the G-band structure and resulted in concurrent changes in MOZ/NCOA2, FGFR1, RUNX1T1, and RUNX1. These multiple-hit abnormalities in AML have not been reported previously.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	No
28056863	Review and Opinion			Neuroblastoma Laboratory, Italian Neuroblastoma Foundation, Pediatric Research Institute, Fondazione Citta della Speranza, Corso Stati Uniti, 4, 35127, Padua, Italy	Tonini GP	Growth, progression and chromosome instability of Neuroblastoma: a new scenario of tumorigenesis?	BMC Cancer	2017 Jan	BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer with a low survival rate of patients with metastatic stage 4 disease. Tumor aggressiveness and progression have been associated with structural copy number variations (CNVs) that are observed in malignant cells. In contrast, localized Neuroblastomas, which are associated with a low number of structural CNVs but frequent numerical CNVs, are less aggressive, and patients have good outcomes. Finally, whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing of Neuroblastoma tissues have shown few damaging mutations in these tumors. CONCLUSIONS: In the present report it is proposed that chromosome instability (CIN) plays a major role in Neuroblastoma tumorigenesis and that CIN is already present in the early phases of tumor development. High CIN can promote several types of chromosomal damage including chromothripsis, gene deletion, amplification and rearrangements, which deregulate gene expression. Indeed, gene rearrangements have been reported as a new scenario in the development of Neuroblastoma, which supports the hypothesis that CIN is an early step preliminary to the late catastrophic events leading to tumor development.							
28008180	Review and Opinion			Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue N., Seattle, Washington 98109, USA	Hatch EM	Y chromothripsis?	Nat Cell Biol	2016 Dec	Micronucleation of missegregated chromatin can lead to substantial chromosome rearrangements via chromothripsis. However, the molecular details of micronucleus-based chromothripsis are still unclear. Now, an elegant system that specifically induces missegregation of the Y chromosome provides insight into this process, including a role for non-homologous end joining.							
27918550	Methodology			Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA	Ly P, Teitz LS, Kim DH, Shoshani O, Skaletsky H, Fachinetti D, Page DC, Cleveland DW	Selective Y centromere inactivation triggers chromosome shattering in micronuclei and repair by non-homologous end joining	Nat Cell Biol	2017 Jan	Chromosome missegregation into a micronucleus can cause complex and localized genomic rearrangements known as chromothripsis, but the underlying mechanisms remain unresolved. Here we developed an inducible Y centromere-selective inactivation strategy by exploiting a CENP-A/histone H3 chimaera to directly examine the fate of missegregated chromosomes in otherwise diploid human cells. Using this approach, we identified a temporal cascade of events that are initiated following centromere inactivation involving chromosome missegregation, fragmentation, and re-ligation that span three consecutive cell cycles. Following centromere inactivation, a micronucleus harbouring the Y chromosome is formed in the first cell cycle. Chromosome shattering, producing up to 53 dispersed fragments from a single chromosome, is triggered by premature micronuclear condensation prior to or during mitotic entry of the second cycle. Lastly, canonical non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), but not homology-dependent repair, is shown to facilitate re-ligation of chromosomal fragments in the third cycle. Thus, initial errors in cell division can provoke further genomic instability through fragmentation of micronuclear DNAs coupled to NHEJ-mediated reassembly in the subsequent interphase.							
27895713	Research	B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia	SNParray	School of Health Professions, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd. Unit 0002, Houston, TX 77030 USA	Gu J, Reynolds A, Fang L, DeGraffenreid C, Sterns K, Patel KP, Medeiros LJ, Lin P, Lu X	Coexistence of iAMP21 and ETV6-RUNX1 fusion in an adolescent with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia: literature review of six additional cases	Mol Cytogenet	2016 Nov	Intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 (iAMP21) results from breakage-fusion-bridge cycles and chromothripsis is a distinct marker of a subgroup of B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) cases associated with a poor prognosis. iAMP21 accounts for 2% of pediatric B-ALL and occurs predominantly in older children or adolescents. ETV6-RUNX1 fusion, resulting from t(12;21)(p13;q22), is associated with an excellent outcome in younger children with B-ALL. Coexistence of iAMP21 with ETV6-RUNX1 fusion is extremely rare with limited clinical information available. RESULTS: We report the case of an 18-year old Caucasian man diagnosed with ETV6-RUNX1 fusion positive B-ALL. He was treated with intensive chemotherapy and achieved remission for 6 months before relapse, 15 months after the initial diagnosis. G-band karyotyping and Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses performed on bone marrow revealed complex abnormalities: 41,X,-Y,der(3)t(3;20)(p11.2;q11.2),-4,t(5;22)(q32;q11.2),del(9)(p13),dic(9;17)(p13;p11.2),t(12;21)(p13;q22),der(14)t(14;17)(p11.2;q11.2),der(17;22)(q11.2;q11.2),-20,add(21)(q22),-22[4]/46,XY[15] with an iAMP21 and an ETV6-RUNX1. Additional molecular studies confirmed ETV6-RUNX1 fusion and with a TP53 mutation. High-resolution single nucleotide polymorphism microarray (SNP array) revealed the iAMP21 to be chromothripsis of 21q and subsequent metaphase FISH further delineated complex genomic aberrations. Although the patient received intensive chemotherapy with allogenic stem cell transplant, he died 26 months after initial diagnosis. We searched the literature and identified six cases showing coexisting iAMP21 and ETV6-RUNX1. The median age for these six patients was 10 years (range, 2-18) and males predominated. The median overall survival (OS) was 28 months. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with B-ALL associated with both iAMP21 and ETV6-RUNX1 tend to be older children or adolescents and have a poor prognosis.	Homo sapiens				>12	2--3	NA
27893960	Review and Opinion			Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155	McVey M, Khodaverdian VY, Meyer D, Cerqueira PG, Heyer WD	Eukaryotic DNA Polymerases in Homologous Recombination	Annu Rev Genet	2016 Nov	Homologous recombination (HR) is a central process to ensure genomic stability in somatic cells and during meiosis. HR-associated DNA synthesis determines in large part the fidelity of the process. A number of recent studies have demonstrated that DNA synthesis during HR is conservative, less processive, and more mutagenic than replicative DNA synthesis. In this review, we describe mechanistic features of DNA synthesis during different types of HR-mediated DNA repair, including synthesis-dependent strand annealing, break-induced replication, and meiotic recombination. We highlight recent findings from diverse eukaryotic organisms, including humans, that suggest both replicative and translesion DNA polymerases are involved in HR-associated DNA synthesis. Our focus is to integrate the emerging literature about DNA polymerase involvement during HR with the unique aspects of these repair mechanisms, including mutagenesis and template switching.							
27888607	Review and Opinion			Department of Molecular Endocrinology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan	Fukami M, Shima H, Suzuki E, Ogata T, Matsubara K, Kamimaki T	Catastrophic cellular events leading to complex chromosomal rearrangements in the germline	Clin Genet	2017 May	Although complex chromosomal rearrangements were thought to reflect the accumulation of DNA damage over time, recent studies have shown that such rearrangements frequently arise from 'all-at-once' catastrophic cellular events. These events, designated chromothripsis, chromoanasynthesis, and chromoanagenesis, were first documented in the cancer genome and subsequently observed in the germline. These events likely result from micronucleus-mediated chromosomal shattering and subsequent random reassembly of DNA fragments, although several other mechanisms have also been proposed. Typically, only one or a few chromosomes of paternal origin are affected per event. These events can produce intrachromosomal deletions, duplications, inversions, and translocations, as well as interchromosomal translocations. Germline complex rearrangements of autosomes often result in developmental delay and dysmorphic features, whereas X chromosomal rearrangements are usually associated with relatively mild clinical manifestations. The concept of these catastrophic events provides novel insights into the etiology of human genomic disorders. This review introduces the molecular characteristics and phenotypic outcomes of catastrophic cellular events in the germline.							
27880765	Research	Individuals with complex chromosome insertions	Array CGH	Department of Molecular & Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America	Gu S, Szafranski P, Akdemir ZC, Yuan B, Cooper ML, Magrina MA, Bacino CA, Lalani SR, Breman AM, Smith JL, Patel A, Song RH, Bi W, Cheung SW, Carvalho CM, Stankiewicz P, Lupski JR	Mechanisms for Complex Chromosomal Insertions	PLoS Genet	2016 Nov	Chromosomal insertions are genomic rearrangements with a chromosome segment inserted into a non-homologous chromosome or a non-adjacent locus on the same chromosome or the other homologue, constituting ~2% of nonrecurrent copy-number gains. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms of their formation. We identified 16 individuals with complex insertions among 56,000 individuals tested at Baylor Genetics using clinical array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Custom high-density aCGH was performed on 10 individuals with available DNA, and breakpoint junctions were fine-mapped at nucleotide resolution by long-range PCR and DNA sequencing in 6 individuals to glean insights into potential mechanisms of formation. We observed microhomologies and templated insertions at the breakpoint junctions, resembling the breakpoint junction signatures found in complex genomic rearrangements generated by replication-based mechanism(s) with iterative template switches. In addition, we analyzed 5 families with apparently balanced insertion in one parent detected by FISH analysis and found that 3 parents had additional small copy-number variants (CNVs) at one or both sides of the inserting fragments as well as at the inserted sites. We propose that replicative repair can result in interchromosomal complex insertions generated through chromothripsis-like chromoanasynthesis involving two or three chromosomes, and cause a significant fraction of apparently balanced insertions harboring small flanking CNVs.	Homo sapiens	GSE89306			>4	2--3	NA
27825145	Research	Recurrent Strokes	SNParray	Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Research Triangle Park, N.C., USA	Burnside RD, Harris A, Speyer D, Burgin WS, Rose DZ, Sanchez-Valle A	Constitutional Chromoanagenesis of Distal 13q in a Young Adult with Recurrent Strokes	Cytogenet Genome Res	2016	Constitutional chromoanagenesis events, which include chromoanasynthesis and chromothripsis and result in highly complex rearrangements, have been reported for only a few individuals. While rare, these phenomena have likely been underestimated in a constitutional setting as technologies that can accurately detect such complexity are relatively new to the mature field of clinical cytogenetics. G-banding is not likely to accurately identify chromoanasynthesis or chromothripsis, since the banding patterns of chromosomes are likely to be misidentified or oversimplified due to a much lower resolution. We describe a patient who was initially referred for cytogenetic testing as a child for speech delay. As a young adult, he was referred again for recurrent strokes. Chromosome analysis was performed, and the rearrangement resembled a simple duplication of 13q32q34. However, SNP microarray analysis showed a complex pattern of copy number gains and a loss consistent with chromoanasynthesis involving distal 13q (13q32.1q34). This report emphasizes the value of performing microarray analysis for individuals with abnormal or complex chromosome rearrangements.	Homo sapiens						
27282254	Research	Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia	SNParray	Academic Unit of Cancer Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Cancer Research UK Centre and Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK	Parker H, Rose-Zerilli MJ, Larrayoz M, Clifford R, Edelmann J, Blakemore S, Gibson J, Wang J, Ljungstrom V, Wojdacz TK, Chaplin T, Roghanian A, Davis Z, Parker A, Tausch E, Ntoufa S, Ramos S, Robbe P, Alsolami R, Steele AJ, Packham G, Rodriguez-Vicente AE, Brown L, McNicholl F, Forconi F, Pettitt A, Hillmen P, Dyer M, Cragg MS, Chelala C, Oakes CC, Rosenquist R, Stamatopoulos K, Stilgenbauer S, Knight S, Schuh A, Oscier DG, Strefford JC	Genomic disruption of the histone methyltransferase SETD2 in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia	Leukemia	2016 Nov	Histone methyltransferases (HMTs) are important epigenetic regulators of gene transcription and are disrupted at the genomic level in a spectrum of human tumours including haematological malignancies. Using high-resolution single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, we identified recurrent deletions of the SETD2 locus in 3% (8/261) of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) patients. Further validation in two independent cohorts showed that SETD2 deletions were associated with loss of TP53, genomic complexity and chromothripsis. With next-generation sequencing we detected mutations of SETD2 in an additional 3.8% of patients (23/602). In most cases, SETD2 deletions or mutations were often observed as a clonal event and always as a mono-allelic lesion, leading to reduced mRNA expression in SETD2-disrupted cases. Patients with SETD2 abnormalities and wild-type TP53 and ATM from five clinical trials employing chemotherapy or chemo-immunotherapy had reduced progression-free and overall survival compared with cases wild type for all three genes. Consistent with its postulated role as a tumour suppressor, our data highlight SETD2 aberration as a recurrent, early loss-of-function event in CLL pathobiology linked to aggressive disease.	Homo sapiens						
27732578	Research	Pancreatic cancer	Next Generation Sequencing	Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A3, Canada	Notta F, Chan-Seng-Yue M, Lemire M, Li Y, Wilson GW, Connor AA, Denroche RE, Liang SB, Brown AM, Kim JC, Wang T, Simpson JT, Beck T, Borgida A, Buchner N, Chadwick D, Hafezi-Bakhtiari S, Dick JE, Heisler L, Hollingsworth MA, Ibrahimov E, Jang GH, Johns J, Jorgensen LG, Law C, Ludkovski O, Lungu I, Ng K, Pasternack D, Petersen GM, Shlush LI, Timms L, Tsao MS, Wilson JM, Yung CK, Zogopoulos G, Bartlett JM, Alexandrov LB, Real FX, Cleary SP, Roehrl MH, McPherson JD, Stein LD, Hudson TJ, Campbell PJ, Gallinger S	A renewed model of pancreatic cancer evolution based on genomic rearrangement patterns	Nature	2016 Oct	Ancreatic cancer, a highly aggressive tumour type with uniformly poor prognosis, exemplifies the classically held view of stepwise cancer development. The current model of tumorigenesis, based on analyses of precursor lesions, termed pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasm (PanINs) lesions, makes two predictions: first, that pancreatic cancer develops through a particular sequence of genetic alterations (KRAS, followed by CDKN2A, then TP53 and SMAD4); and second, that the evolutionary trajectory of pancreatic cancer progression is gradual because each alteration is acquired independently. A shortcoming of this model is that clonally expanded precursor lesions do not always belong to the tumour lineage, indicating that the evolutionary trajectory of the tumour lineage and precursor lesions can be divergent. This prevailing model of tumorigenesis has contributed to the clinical notion that pancreatic cancer evolves slowly and presents at a late stage. However, the propensity for this disease to rapidly metastasize and the inability to improve patient outcomes, despite efforts aimed at early detection, suggest that pancreatic cancer progression is not gradual. Here, using newly developed informatics tools, we tracked changes in DNA copy number and their associated rearrangements in tumour-enriched genomes and found that pancreatic cancer tumorigenesis is neither gradual nor follows the accepted mutation order. Two-thirds of tumours harbour complex rearrangement patterns associated with mitotic errors, consistent with punctuated equilibrium as the principal evolutionary trajectory. In a subset of cases, the consequence of such errors is the simultaneous, rather than sequential, knockout of canonical preneoplastic genetic drivers that are likely to set-off invasive cancer growth. These findings challenge the current progression model of pancreatic cancer and provide insights into the mutational processes that give rise to these aggressive tumours.	Homo sapiens				>=14	>2	Yes
27741277	Research	Myelodysplastic syndromes	Array CGH	Unidad de Diagnostico Molecular y Celular del Cancer, Centro de Investigacion del Cancer-IBMCC (USAL-CSIC), Salamanca, Spain	Abaigar M, Robledo C, Benito R, Ramos F, Diez-Campelo M, Hermosin L, Sanchez-Del-Real J, Alonso JM, Cuello R, Megido M, Rodriguez JN, Martin-Nunez G, Aguilar C, Vargas M, Martin AA, Garcia JL, Kohlmann A, Del Canizo MC, Hernandez-Rivas JM	Chromothripsis Is a Recurrent Genomic Abnormality in High-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes	PLoS One	2016 Oct	comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) in a series of MDS and MDS/myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) patients. 301 patients diagnosed with MDS (n = 240) or MDS/MPN (n = 61) were studied at the time of diagnosis. A genome-wide analysis of DNA copy number abnormalities was performed. In addition, a mutational analysis of DNMT3A, TET2, RUNX1, TP53 and BCOR genes was performed by NGS in selected cases. 285 abnormalities were identified in 71 patients (23.6%). Three high-risk MDS cases (1.2%) displayed chromothripsis involving exclusively chromosome 13 and affecting some cancer genes: FLT3, BRCA2 and RB1. All three cases carried TP53 mutations as revealed by NGS. Moreover, in the whole series, the integrative analysis of aCGH and NGS enabled the identification of cryptic recurrent deletions in 2p23.3 (DNMT3A; n = 2.8%), 4q24 (TET2; n = 10%) 17p13 (TP53; n = 8.5%), 21q22 (RUNX1; n = 7%), and Xp11.4 (BCOR; n = 2.8%), while mutations in the non-deleted allele where found only in DNMT3A (n = 1), TET2 (n = 3), and TP53 (n = 4). These cryptic abnormalities were detected mainly in patients with normal (45%) or non-informative (15%) karyotype by conventional cytogenetics, except for those with TP53 deletion and mutation (15%), which had a complex karyotype. In addition to well-known copy number defects, the presence of chromothripsis involving chromosome 13 was a novel recurrent change in high-risk MDS patients. Array CGH analysis revealed the presence of cryptic abnormalities in genomic regions where MDS-related genes, such as TET2, DNMT3A, RUNX1 and BCOR, are located.	Homo sapiens	GSE67682			>=22	2--3	NA
27560999	Research	Neuroblastoma	SNParray	Department of Tumor Biology, CCRI, Children's Cancer Research Institute, St. Anna Kinderkrebsforschung, Vienna, Austria	Brunner C, Brunner-Herglotz B, Ziegler A, Frech C, Amann G, Ladenstein R, Ambros IM, Ambros PF	Tumor Touch Imprints as Source for Whole Genome Analysis of Neuroblastoma Tumors	PLoS One	2016 Aug	INTRODUCTION: Tumor touch imprints (TTIs) are routinely used for the molecular diagnosis of neuroblastomas by interphase fluorescence in-situ hybridization (I-FISH). However, in order to facilitate a comprehensive, up-to-date molecular diagnosis of neuroblastomas and to identify new markers to refine risk and therapy stratification methods, whole genome approaches are needed. We examined the applicability of an ultra-high density SNP array platform that identifies copy number changes of varying sizes down to a few exons for the detection of genomic changes in tumor DNA extracted from TTIs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: DNAs were extracted from TTIs of 46 neuroblastoma and 4 other pediatric tumors. The DNAs were analyzed on the Cytoscan HD SNP array platform to evaluate numerical and structural genomic aberrations. The quality of the data obtained from TTIs was compared to that from randomly chosen fresh or fresh frozen solid tumors (n = 212) and I-FISH validation was performed. RESULTS: SNP array profiles were obtained from 48 (out of 50) TTI DNAs of which 47 showed genomic aberrations. The high marker density allowed for single gene analysis, e.g. loss of nine exons in the ATRX gene and the visualization of chromothripsis. Data quality was comparable to fresh or fresh frozen tumor SNP profiles. SNP array results were confirmed by I-FISH. CONCLUSION: TTIs are an excellent source for SNP array processing with the advantage of simple handling, distribution and storage of tumor tissue on glass slides. The minimal amount of tumor tissue needed to analyze whole genomes makes TTIs an economic surrogate source in the molecular diagnostic work up of tumor samples.	Homo sapiens	GSE79187			>200	>3	NA
27542123	Review and Opinion			Cell Biology Unit, Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Biosciences School, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Spain	Terradas M, Martin M, Genesca A	Impaired nuclear functions in micronuclei results in genome instability and chromothripsis	Arch Toxicol	2016 Nov	Micronuclei (MN) have generally been considered a consequence of DNA damage and, as such, have been used as markers of exposure to genotoxic agents. However, advances in DNA sequencing methods and the development of high-resolution microscopy with which to analyse chromosome dynamics in live cells have been fundamental in building a more refined view of the existing links between DNA damage and micronuclei. Here, we review recent progress indicating that defects of micronuclei affect basic nuclear functions, such as DNA repair and replication, generating massive damage in the chromatin of the MN. In addition, the physical isolation of chromosomes within MN offers an attractive mechanistic explanation for chromothripsis, a massive local DNA fragmentation that produces complex rearrangements restricted to only one or a few chromosomes. When micronuclear chromatin is reincorporated in the daughter cell nuclei, the under-replicated, damaged or rearranged micronuclear chromatin might contribute to genome instability. The traditional conception of micronuclei has been overturned, as they have evolved from passive indicators of DNA damage to active players in the formation of DNA lesions, thus unravelling previously unforeseen roles of micronuclei in the origins of chromosome instability.							
27426636	Research	Clear cell renal cell carcinoma	SNParray	Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC	Gullett JC, Znoyko IY, Wolff DJ, Schandl CA	Chromothripsis in Two Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Case Series	Clin Genitourin Cancer	2017 Feb	Clinical Practice Points: Chromothripsis has been described as the catastrophic shattering of a chromosomal region with inaccurate genomic reassembly. Although chromothripsis occurs in a number of other epithelial cell tumors, it has only rarely been reported in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We describe 2 individuals in their sixth decade who presented to our institution with RCC and apparent chromothripsis identified by single nucleotide polymorphism whole genome microarray analysis. This result suggests that chromothripsis might be a more common mechanism leading to the development of RCC than previously known. Detection of chromothripsis in patients with RCC might, in part, dictate the prognosis and, ultimately, guide therapeutic decisions based on the typically poorer outcome and more advanced disease documented in other tumor types A specific treatment regimen for chromothripsisrelated tumors is not currently available. However, it is conceivable that molecularly targeted therapies might one day be used to exploit the underlying etiologies and subsequent effects of chromothripsis, because some of the innumerable cells and/or pathways affected might be more sensitive to particular drugs.	Homo sapiens				>8	>3	NA
27342254	Review and Opinion			European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Genome Biology Unit, Meyerhofstrabe 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany	Habermann N, Mardin BR, Yakneen S, Korbel JO	Using large-scale genome variation cohorts to decipher the molecular mechanism of cancer	C R Biol	2016 Jul	Characterizing genomic structural variations (SVs) in the human genome remains challenging, and there is a growing interest to understand somatic SVs occurring in cancer, a disease of the genome. A havoc-causing SV process known as chromothripsis scars the genome when localized chromosome shattering and repair occur in a one-off catastrophe. Recent efforts led to the development of a set of conceptual criteria for the inference of chromothripsis events in cancer genomes and to the development of experimental model systems for studying this striking DNA alteration process in vitro. We discuss these approaches, and additionally touch upon current Big Data efforts that employ hybrid cloud computing to enable studies of numerous cancer genomes in an effort to search for commonalities and differences in molecular DNA alteration processes in cancer.							
27257076	Research			Institute of Medical Radiation Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen Medical School, 45122 Essen, Germany	Schipler A, Mladenova V, Soni A, Nikolov V, Saha J, Mladenov E, Iliakis G	Chromosome thripsis by DNA double strand break clusters causes enhanced cell lethality, chromosomal translocations and 53BP1-recruitment	Nucleic Acids Res	2016 Sep 	Chromosome translocations are hallmark of cancer and of radiation-induced cell killing, reflecting joining of incongruent DNA-ends that alter the genome. Translocation-formation requires DNA end-joining mechanisms and incompletely characterized, permissive chromatin conditions. We show that chromatin destabilization by clusters of DNA double-strand-breaks (DSBs) generated by the I-SceI meganuclease at multiple, appropriately engineered genomic sites, compromises c-NHEJ and markedly increases cell killing and translocation-formation compared to single-DSBs. Translocation-formation from DSB-clusters utilizes Parp1 activity, implicating alt-EJ in their formation. Immunofluorescence experiments show that single-DSBs and DSB-clusters uniformly provoke the formation of single gamma-H2AX foci, suggesting similar activation of early DNA damage response (DDR). Live-cell imaging also shows similar single-focus recruitment of the early-response protein MDC1, to single-DSBs and DSB-clusters. Notably, the late DDR protein, 53BP1 shows in live-cell imaging strikingly stronger recruitment to DSB-clusters as compared to single-DSBs. This is the first report that chromatin thripsis, in the form of engineered DSB-clusters, compromises first-line DSB-repair pathways, allowing alt-EJ to function as rescuing-backup. DSB-cluster-formation is indirectly linked to the increased biological effectiveness of high ionization-density radiations, such as the alpha-particles emitted by radon gas or the heavy-ions utilized in cancer therapy. Our observations provide the first direct mechanistic explanation for this long-known effect.							
27216161	Research	Congenital abnormality	Array CGH	Unitat de Biologia Celx00B7;lular i Genx00E8;tica Mx00E8;dica, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat Autx00F2;noma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain	Del Rey J, Santos M, Gonzalez-Meneses A, Mila M, Fuster C	Heterogeneity of a Constitutional Complex Chromosomal Rearrangement in 2q	Cytogenet Genome Res	2016	Complex chromosome rearrangements (CCRs) are unusual structural chromosome alterations found in humans, and to date only a few have been characterized molecularly. New mechanisms, such as chromothripsis, have been proposed to explain the presence of the CCRs in cancer cells and in patients with congenital disorders and/or mental retardation. The aim of the present study was the molecular characterization of a constitutional CCR in a girl with multiple congenital disorders and intellectual disability in order to determine the genotype-phenotype relation and to clarify whether the CCR could have been caused by chromosomal catastrophic events. The present CCR was characterized by G-banding, high-resolution CGH, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification and subtelomeric  q-FISH analyses. Preliminary results indicate that the de novo CCR is unbalanced showing a  q .  deletion and  q q .  partial trisomy. Our patient shows some of the typical traits and intellectual disability described in patients with  q  deletion and also in carriers of  q q .  partial trisomy; thus, the clinical disorders could be explained by additional effects of both chromosome alterations (deletions and duplications). A posterior, sequential FISH study using BAC probes revealed the unexpected presence of at least   different reorganizations affecting  q q . , suggesting the existence of chromosome instability in this region. The present CCR is the first case described in the literature of heterogeneity of unbalanced CCRs affecting a small region of  q, indicating that the mechanisms involved in constitutional chromosome rearrangement may be more complex than previously thought.	Homo sapiens				NA	NA	NA
27208973	Review and Opinion			School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia	Reece AS, Hulse GK	Chromothripsis and epigenomics complete causality criteria for cannabis- and addiction-connected carcinogenicity, congenital toxicity and heritable genotoxicity	Mutat Res	2016 Jul	The recent demonstration that massive scale chromosomal shattering or pulverization can occur abruptly due to errors induced by interference with the microtubule machinery of the mitotic spindle followed by haphazard chromosomal annealing, together with sophisticated insights from epigenetics, provide profound mechanistic insights into some of the most perplexing classical observations of addiction medicine, including cancerogenesis, the younger and aggressive onset of addiction-related carcinogenesis, the heritability of addictive neurocircuitry and cancers, and foetal malformations. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other addictive agents have been shown to inhibit tubulin polymerization which perturbs the formation and function of the microtubules of the mitotic spindle. This disruption of the mitotic machinery perturbs proper chromosomal segregation during anaphase and causes micronucleus formation which is the primary locus and cause of the chromosomal pulverization of chromothripsis and downstream genotoxic events including oncogene induction and tumour suppressor silencing. Moreover the complementation of multiple positive cannabis-cancer epidemiological studies, and replicated dose-response relationships with established mechanisms fulfils causal criteria. This information is also consistent with data showing acceleration of the aging process by drugs of addiction including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, stimulants and opioids. THC shows a non-linear sigmoidal dose-response relationship in multiple pertinent in vitro and preclinical genotoxicity assays, and in this respect is similar to the serious major human mutagen thalidomide. Rising community exposure, tissue storage of cannabinoids, and increasingly potent phytocannabinoid sources, suggests that the threshold mutagenic dose for cancerogenesis will increasingly be crossed beyond the developing world, and raise transgenerational transmission of teratogenicity as an increasing concern.							
27022325	Review and Opinion			Department of Human Genetics, University of Wurzburg, Biozentrum, Am Hubland, DE-97074 Wurzburg (Germany)	Poot M	From Telomere Crisis via Dicentric Chromosomes to Kataegis and Chromothripsis	Mol Syndromol	2016 Feb	No abstract available.							
26997940	Review and Opinion			Department of Human Genetics, University of Wurzburg, Biozentrum, Am Hubland, DE-97074 Wurzburg (Germany)	Poot M	Chromothripsis after Stumbling through DNA Replication	Mol Syndromol	2016 Feb	No abstract available.							
26880205	Review and Opinion			Molecular Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA	Kim S, Peterson SE, Jasin M, Keeney S	Mechanisms of germ line genome instability	Semin Cell Dev Biol	2016 Jun	During meiosis, numerous DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are formed as part of the normal developmental program. This seemingly destructive behavior is necessary for successful meiosis, since repair of the DSBs through homologous recombination (HR) helps to produce physical links between the homologous chromosomes essential for correct chromosome segregation later in meiosis. However, DSB formation at such a massive scale also introduces opportunities to generate gross chromosomal rearrangements. In this review, we explore ways in which meiotic DSBs can result in such genomic alterations.							
26790771	Review and Opinion			Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Biotechnology, United States	Sinha S, Villarreal D, Shim EY, Lee SE	Risky business: Microhomology-mediated end joining	Mutat Res	2016 Jun	Prevalence of microhomology (MH) at the breakpoint junctions in somatic and germ-line chromosomal rearrangements and in the programmed immune receptor rearrangements from cells deficient in classical end joining reveals an enigmatic process called MH-mediated end joining (MMEJ). MMEJ repairs DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) by annealing flanking MH and deleting genetic information at the repair junctions from yeast to humans. Being genetically distinct from canonical DNA DSB pathways, MMEJ is involved with the fusions of eroded/uncapped telomeres as well as with the assembly of chromosome fragments in chromothripsis. In this review article, we will discuss an up-to-date model representing the MMEJ process and the mechanism by which cells regulate MMEJ to limit repair-associated mutagenesis. We will also describe the possible therapeutic gains resulting from the inhibition of MMEJ in recombination deficient cancers. Lastly, we will embark on two contentious issues associated with MMEJ such as the significance of MH at the repair junction to be the hallmark of MMEJ and the relationship of MMEJ to other mechanistically related DSB repair pathways.							
26590822	Review and Opinion			Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology, Graduate Program in Molecular & Cellular Biosciences, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, Portland, Ore., USA	Daughtry BL, Chavez SL	Chromosomal instability in mammalian pre-implantation embryos: potential causes, detection methods, and clinical consequences	Cell Tissue Res	2016 Jan	Formation of a totipotent blastocyst capable of implantation is one of the first major milestones in early mammalian embryogenesis, but less than half of in vitro fertilized embryos from most mammals will progress to this stage of development. Whole chromosomal abnormalities, or aneuploidy, are key determinants of whether human embryos will arrest or reach the blastocyst stage. Depending on the type of chromosomal abnormality, however, certain embryos still form blastocysts and may be morphologically indistinguishable from chromosomally normal embryos. Despite the implementation of pre-implantation genetic screening and other advanced in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques, the identification of aneuploid embryos remains complicated by high rates of mosaicism, atypical cell division, cellular fragmentation, sub-chromosomal instability, and micro-/multi-nucleation. Moreover, several of these processes occur in vivo following natural human conception, suggesting that they are not simply a consequence of culture conditions. Recent technological achievements in genetic, epigenetic, chromosomal, and non-invasive imaging have provided additional embryo assessment approaches, particularly at the single-cell level, and clinical trials investigating their efficacy are continuing to emerge. In this review, we summarize the potential mechanisms by which aneuploidy may arise, the various detection methods, and the technical advances (such as time-lapse imaging, -omic profiling, and next-generation sequencing) that have assisted in obtaining this data. We also discuss the possibility of aneuploidy resolution in embryos via various corrective mechanisms, including multi-polar divisions, fragment resorption, endoreduplication, and blastomere exclusion, and conclude by examining the potential implications of these findings for IVF success and human fecundity.							
26543079	Research	Acute myeloid leukemia	Array CGH	HaemoDiagnostic Laboratory, Cancer Cytogenetics Section, Department of Hematology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark Eigil	Kjeldsen E	Oligo-based High-resolution aCGH Analysis Enhances Routine Cytogenetic Diagnostics in Haematological Malignancies	Cancer Genomics Proteomics	2015 Nov-Dec	BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the detection rate of genomic aberrations in haematological malignancies using oligobased array-CGH (oaCGH) analysis in combination with karyotyping and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses, and its feasibility in a clinical pragmatic approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 4x180K Cancer Cytochip array was applied in 96 patients with various haematological malignancies in a prospective setting and in 41 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients retrospectively. RESULTS: Combined use of oaCGH analysis and karyotyping improved the overall detection rate in comparison to karyotyping-alone and vice versa. In cases with normal karyotypes oaCGH analysis detected genomic aberrations in 66% (39/60) of cases. In the group of simple karyotypes oaCGH analysis extended karyotypic findings in 39% (12/31) while oaCGH analysis extended the karyotypic findings in 89% (39/44) of cases with complex karyotypes. In 7% (5/75) of cases oaCGH analysis failed in detecting the observed abnormalities by karyotyping. CONCLUSION: oaCGH analysis is a valuable asset in routine cytogenetics of haematological malignancies.	Homo sapiens				>4	>2	NA