The elusive evidence for chromothripsis

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.     

Chromothripsis in Healthy Individuals Affects Multiple Protein-Coding Genes and Can Result in Severe Congenital Abnormalities in Offspring

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.     

Massive genomic rearrangement acquired in a single catastrophic event during cancer development

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.     

Chromothripsis: Breakage-fusion-bridge over and over again

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 chromothripsis originate 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.     

Genomic organization and evolution of double minutes/homogeneously staining regions with MYC amplification in human cancer

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.     

Frequent occurrence of large duplications at reciprocal genomic rearrangement breakpoints in multiple myeloma and other tumors

Using a combination of array comparative genomic hybridization, mate pair and cloned sequences, and FISH analyses, we have identified in multiple myeloma cell lines and tumors a novel and recurrent type of genomic rearrangement, i.e. interchromosomal rearrangements (translocations or insertions) and intrachromosomal inversions that contain long (1–4000 kb; median ∼100 kb) identical sequences adjacent to both reciprocal breakpoint junctions. These duplicated sequences were generated from sequences immediately adjacent to the breakpoint from at least one—but sometimes both—chromosomal donor site(s). Tandem duplications had a similar size distribution suggesting the possibility of a shared mechanism for generating duplicated sequences at breakpoints. Although about 25% of apparent secondary rearrangements contained these duplications, primary IGH translocations rarely, if ever, had large duplications at breakpoint junctions. Significantly, these duplications often contain super-enhancers and/or oncogenes (e.g. MYC) that are dysregulated by rearrangements during tumor progression. We also found that long identical sequences often were identified at both reciprocal breakpoint junctions in six of eight other tumor types. Finally, we have been unable to find reports of similar kinds of rearrangements in wild-type or mutant prokaryotes or lower eukaryotes such as yeast.     

Further delineation of nonhomologous-based recombination and evidence for subtelomeric segmental duplications in 1p36 rearrangements

The mechanisms involved in the formation of subtelomeric rearrangements are now beginning to be elucidated. Breakpoint sequencing analysis of 1p36 rearrangements has made important contributions to this line of inquiry. Despite the unique architecture of segmental duplications inherent to human subtelomeres, no common mechanism has been identified thus far and different nonexclusive recombination–repair mechanisms seem to predominate. In order to gain further insights into the mechanisms of chromosome breakage, repair, and stabilization mediating subtelomeric rearrangements in humans, we investigated the constitutional rearrangements of 1p36. Cloning of the breakpoint junctions in a complex rearrangement and three non-reciprocal translocations revealed similarities at the junctions, such as microhomology of up to three nucleotides, along with no significant sequence identity in close proximity to the breakpoint regions. All the breakpoints appeared to be unique and their occurrence was limited to non-repetitive, unique DNA sequences. Several recombination- or cleavage-associated motifs that may promote non-homologous recombination were observed in close proximity to the junctions. We conclude that NHEJ is likely the mechanism of DNA repair that generates these rearrangements. Additionally, two apparently pure terminal deletions were also investigated, and the refinement of the breakpoint regions identified two distinct genomic intervals ~25-kb apart, each containing a series of 1p36 specific segmental duplications with 90–98% identity. Segmental duplications can serve as substrates for ectopic homologous recombination or stimulate genomic rearrangements.     

The presence of interstitial telomeric sequences in constitutional chromosome abnormalities.

We describe a novel chromosome structure in which telomeric sequences are present interstitially, at the apparent breakpoint junctions of structurally abnormal chromosomes. In the linear chromosomes with interstitial telomeric sequences, there were three sites of hybridization of the telomere consensus sequence within each derived chromosome: one at each terminus and one at the breakpoint junction. Telomeric sequences also were observed within a ring chromosome. The rearrangements examined were constitutional chromosome abnormalities with a breakpoint assigned to a terminal band. In each case (with the exception of the ring chromosome), an acentric segment of one chromosome was joined to the terminus of an apparently intact recipient chromosome. One case exhibited apparent instability of the chromosome rearrangement, resulting in somatic mosaicism. The rearrangements described here differ from the telomeric associations observed in certain tumors, which appear to represent end-to-end fusion of two or more intact chromosomes. The observed interstitial telomeric sequences appear to represent nonfunctional chromosomal elements, analogous to the inactivated centromeres observed in dicentric chromosomes.     

染色体粉碎——基因组灾难性事件产物

"染色体粉碎"是最初在肿瘤细胞中发现的一种复杂的基因组重排现象.在该事件中,细胞的一条或几条染色体在短时间内发生大量的DNA双链断裂,形成小的DNA碎片,之后这些碎片被细胞的DNA修复机制随机地拼接起来,形成新的染色体.染色体粉碎事件会造成大量的基因组重排,引起DNA拷贝数的变异和基因融合,从而导致正常细胞向肿瘤细胞的快速转化.这与传统的癌症发生理论不同,传统理论认为肿瘤的发生是由基因突变逐步积累而导致的,因此染色体粉碎现象可能揭示了一种肿瘤发生的新机制.目前,该现象的内在机制还不完全清楚,其判别标准也存在争议.本文综述了近年来关于染色体粉碎现象的判别标准和产生机制,探讨了该现象与肿瘤发生发展的关系,为进一步研究染色体粉碎事件提供参考.     

A cell‐based model system links chromothripsis with hyperploidy

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.     

Chromothripsis is a common mechanism driving genomic rearrangements in primary and metastatic colorectal cancer

Background

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.     

Emergence of complex rearrangements at translocation breakpoints in a transgenic mouse; implications for mechanisms involved in the formation of chromosome rearrangements

Cryptic complex rearrangements as a result of a reciprocal chromosome translocation have been characterised in a transgenic mouse strain. Analysis of the breakpoint junctions in our previous studies showed that the ada transgene was integrated at the breakpoint forming a fusion gene with Golga3 (Mea2). In this study, further detailed analysis around the translocation junctions revealed that the surrounding regions were composed of 13 fragments of defined transgenic chromosome origins over approximately 1.9-Mb areas. Exactly the same cluster structure of these 13 breakpoint fragments already existed in the second generation of the transgenic mice. Our results show that this highly complex rearrangement has been conserved as the incipient form without any additional changes for 18 years up to the present generation, suggesting simultaneous occurrence of multiple events in the founder mouse.     

Chromosome-breakage genomic instability and chromothripsis in breast cancer

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.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-579) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Transient hypermutability, chromothripsis and replication-based mechanisms in the generation of concurrent clustered mutations

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.     

Transient hypermutability, chromothripsis and replication-based mechanisms in the generation of concurrent clustered mutations

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.     

Complex Genomic Rearrangements at the PLP1 Locus Include Triplication and Quadruplication

Inverted repeats (IRs) can facilitate structural variation as crucibles of genomic rearrangement. Complex duplication—inverted triplication—duplication (DUP-TRP/INV-DUP) rearrangements that contain breakpoint junctions within IRs have been recently associated with both MECP2 duplication syndrome (MIM#300260) and Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD, MIM#312080). We investigated 17 unrelated PMD subjects with copy number gains at the PLP1 locus including triplication and quadruplication of specific genomic intervals—16/17 were found to have a DUP-TRP/INV-DUP rearrangement product. An IR distal to PLP1 facilitates DUP-TRP/INV-DUP formation as well as an inversion structural variation found frequently amongst normal individuals. We show that a homology—or homeology—driven replicative mechanism of DNA repair can apparently mediate template switches within stretches of microhomology. Moreover, we provide evidence that quadruplication and potentially higher order amplification of a genomic interval can occur in a manner consistent with rolling circle amplification as predicted by the microhomology-mediated break induced replication (MMBIR) model.     

Fluorescence in situ hybridization to chromosomes as a tool to understand human and primate genome evolution

For the last 15 years molecular cytogenetic techniques have been extensively used to study primate evolution. Molecular probes were helpful to distinguish mammalian chromosomes and chromosome segments on the basis of their DNA content rather than solely on morphological features such as banding patterns. Various landmark rearrangements have been identified for most of the nodes in primate phylogeny while chromosome banding still provides helpful reference maps. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques were used with probes of different complexity including chromosome painting probes, probes derived from chromosome sub-regions and in the size of a single gene. Since more recently, in silico techniques have been applied to trace down evolutionarily derived chromosome rearrangements by searching the human and mouse genome sequence databases. More detailed breakpoint analyses of chromosome rearrangements that occurred during higher primate evolution also gave some insights into the molecular changes in chromosome rearrangements that occurred in evolution. Hardly any "fusion genes" as known from chromosome rearrangements in cancer cells or dramatic "position effects" of genes transferred to new sites in primate genomes have been reported yet. Most breakpoint regions have been identified within gene poor areas rich in repetitive elements and/or low copy repeats (segmental duplications). The progress in various molecular and molecular-cytogenetic approaches including the recently launched chimpanzee genome project suggests that these new tools will have a significant impact on the further understanding of human genome evolution.