Cell Reports (Jul 2023)

Spatial and clonality-resolved 3D cancer genome alterations reveal enhancer-hijacking as a potential prognostic marker for colorectal cancer

  • Kyukwang Kim,
  • Mooyoung Kim,
  • Andrew J. Lee,
  • Sang-Hyun Song,
  • Jun-Kyu Kang,
  • Junghyun Eom,
  • Gyeong Hoon Kang,
  • Jeong Mo Bae,
  • Sunwoo Min,
  • Yeonsoo Kim,
  • Yoojoo Lim,
  • Han Sang Kim,
  • Young-Joon Kim,
  • Tae-You Kim,
  • Inkyung Jung

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 42, no. 7
p. 112778

Abstract

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Summary: The regulatory effect of non-coding large-scale structural variations (SVs) on proto-oncogene activation remains unclear. This study investigated SV-mediated gene dysregulation by profiling 3D cancer genome maps from 40 patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). We developed a machine learning-based method for spatial characterization of the altered 3D cancer genome. This revealed a frequent establishment of “de novo chromatin contacts” that can span multiple topologically associating domains (TADs) in addition to the canonical TAD fusion/shuffle model. Using this information, we precisely identified super-enhancer (SE)-hijacking and its clonal characteristics. Clonal SE-hijacking genes, such as TOP2B, are recurrently associated with cell-cycle/DNA-processing functions, which can potentially be used as CRC prognostic markers. Oncogene activation and increased drug resistance due to SE-hijacking were validated by reconstructing the patient’s SV using CRISPR-Cas9. Collectively, the spatial and clonality-resolved analysis of the 3D cancer genome reveals regulatory principles of large-scale SVs in oncogene activation and their clinical implications.

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