iScience (Jan 2025)

Mapping the chromothripsis landscape in urothelial carcinoma unravels great intratumoral and intertumoral heterogeneity

  • Yuchen Zeng,
  • Wei Lv,
  • Huiying Tao,
  • Conghui Li,
  • Shiqi Jiang,
  • Yuan Liang,
  • Chen Chen,
  • Tianxi Yu,
  • Yue Li,
  • Shuang Wu,
  • Xin Cui,
  • Ning Liang,
  • Ping Wang,
  • Huixin Xu,
  • Jingjing Dong,
  • Huajing Teng,
  • Ke Chen,
  • Kai Mu,
  • Tianda Fan,
  • Xiaoping Cen,
  • Zhe Xu,
  • Ming Zhu,
  • Wenting Wang,
  • Jia Mi,
  • Xi Xiang,
  • Wei Dong,
  • Huanming Yang,
  • Lars Bolund,
  • Lin Lin,
  • Jinzhao Song,
  • Xicheng Song,
  • Yonglun Luo,
  • Chunhua Lin,
  • Peng Han

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 28, no. 1
p. 111510

Abstract

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Summary: Chromothripsis, a hallmark of cancer, is characterized by extensive and localized DNA rearrangements involving one or a few chromosomes. However, its genome-wide frequency and characteristics in urothelial carcinoma (UC) remain largely unknown. Here, by analyzing single-regional and multi-regional whole-genome sequencing (WGS), we present the chromothripsis blueprint in 488 UC patients. Chromothripsis events exhibit significant intertumoral heterogeneity, being detected in 41% of UC patients, with an increase from 30% in non-muscle-invasive disease (Ta/1) to 53% in muscle-invasive disease (T2-4). The presence of chromothripsis correlates with an unstable cancer genome and poor clinical outcomes. Analysis of multi-regional WGS data from 52 patients revealed pronounced intratumoral heterogeneity with chromothripsis events detectable only in specific tumor regions rather than uniformly across all areas. Chromothripsis events evolve under positive selection and contribute to tumor dissemination. This study presents a comprehensive genome-wide chromothripsis landscape in UC, highlighting the significance of chromothripsis in UC development.

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