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ONCOGENE AMPLIFICATION

Decoding complex patterns of oncogene amplification

Nature Genetics volume 53, pages 1626–1627 (2021)Cite this article

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Oncogene amplification is a major driver of tumorigenesis; yet, the mechanisms generating amplification are only partially understood. New research reports on the identification of a new focal amplification pattern termed ‘seismic amplification’ that is hypothesized to originate from recombination between extrachromosomal DNA circles.

Over recent years, tremendous progress has been seen in determining the origins of cancer genome complexity. The new understanding stems from identification of the signatures of mutational processes using whole-genome analysis1,2, which has inspired sequencing-based experimental work to recreate these processes in the laboratory for mechanistic analysis3,4,5,6. Seismic amplifications appear to be another such signature, demanding a new round of experiments.

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Fig. 1: Mechanisms for oncogene amplification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA

    David Pellman

  2. Blavatnick Institute, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    David Pellman

  3. Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    David Pellman

  4. Blavatnick Institute, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Cheng-Zhong Zhang

  5. Department of Data Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Cheng-Zhong Zhang

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  1. David Pellman
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  2. Cheng-Zhong Zhang
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Correspondence to David Pellman.

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Pellman, D., Zhang, CZ. Decoding complex patterns of oncogene amplification. Nat Genet 53, 1626–1627 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00974-0

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