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Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

  • The ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium
  • Applied Tumor Genomics Research Program
  • University of Cambridge
  • Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
  • Broad Institute
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Harvard University
  • European Molecular Biology Laboratory
  • University of California at Santa Cruz
  • Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
  • International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC)/ICGC Accelerating Research in Genomic Oncology (ICGC-ARGO) Secretariat
  • University of Toronto
  • University of California at San Francisco
  • University of California at Los Angeles
  • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Washington University St. Louis
  • German Cancer Research Center
  • Heidelberg University 
  • Baylor College of Medicine
  • Oregon Health and Science University
  • The University of Tokyo
  • Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • University of Santiago de Compostela
  • University of Vigo
  • Stanford University
  • Annai Systems, Inc
  • Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
  • University of Tübingen
  • Pompeu Fabra University
  • University of Lausanne
  • University of Geneva
  • Duke-NUS Medical School
  • Singapore Health Services
  • Ewha Womans University
  • Xi'an Jiaotong University
  • Independent Consultant
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • Biobyte Solutions
  • Yale University
  • University of Oxford
  • Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
  • Cornell University
  • ICREA
  • Autonomous University of Barcelona
  • Kiel University
  • Ulm University
  • RIKEN
  • Quantitative Genomics Laboratories (qGenomics)
  • Sage Bionetworks
  • University of Montreal
  • Institute for Research in Biomedicine
  • Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
  • The Francis Crick Institute
  • KU Leuven
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  • University of Copenhagen
  • University of California at San Diego
  • University of Barcelona
  • Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (C.I.B.E.R.E.S.P.)
  • Econometrics and Health (GRECS)
  • Oxford Nanopore Technologies
  • Washington State University Pullman
  • University of Helsinki
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
  • Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
  • University of Zurich
  • Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Tampere University
  • University of Tasmania
  • McGill University
  • Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
  • University of Porto
  • Cell Division and Cancer Group
  • Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham
  • University of British Columbia
  • Vancouver Prostate Centre
  • Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  • Syntekabio Inc
  • Aarhus University
  • Indiana University Bloomington
  • Simon Fraser University
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
  • Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research
  • Seven Bridges Genomics
  • The University of Chicago
  • Sungkyunkwan University
  • Samsung
  • New York Genome Center
  • Vector Institute
  • Hallym University
  • Peking University
  • Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore
  • National University of Singapore
  • BGI-Shenzhen
  • China National GeneBank
  • Korea University
  • Jackson Laboratory
  • University of Glasgow
  • Bar-Ilan University
  • University College London
  • HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • National Cancer Centre
  • Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology
  • Hospital del Mar
  • King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre
  • German Aerospace Center
  • Genome Canada
  • Instituto Carlos Slim de la Salud
  • Federal Ministry of Education and Research
  • Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus
  • French National Cancer Institute
  • Wellcome Trust
  • Prostate Cancer Canada
  • Ministry of Science and Technology, India
  • Science Writer
  • Cancer Research UK
  • Chinese Cancer Genome Consortium
  • National Cancer Center Japan
  • German Cancer Aid
  • Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
  • University and Hospital Trust of Verona
  • University of Verona
  • Maastricht University
  • PDXen Biosystems Co. Ltd.
  • Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
  • The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • University of Melbourne
  • AbbVie
  • Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine (HI-STEM)
  • Leidos Inc
  • General Dynamics
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • CAS - Computer Network Information Center
  • Geneplus-Shenzhen
  • Technical University of Denmark
  • University of Bern
  • Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
  • Uppsala University
  • University of Queensland
  • University of Milan - Bicocca
  • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  • National Cancer Centre Korea
  • Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences
  • Ghent University
  • Sangmyung University
  • Princeton University
  • New York Presbyterian Hospital
  • Japan Science and Technology Agency
  • Tokyo Medical and Dental University
  • Tallinn University of Technology
  • Interuniversitair Micro-Elektronica Centrum
  • Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • Ohio State University
  • Northwestern University
  • Leipzig University
  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
  • Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute
  • Van Andel Institute
  • August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute
  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Foundation Medicine, Inc.
  • University of Ottawa
  • Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute
  • Brandeis University
  • Hopp Children’s Cancer Center (KiTZ)
  • Russian Academy of Sciences
  • Dmitry Rogachev National Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology
  • Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
  • Seoul National University
  • University of St Andrews
  • Queensland Institute of Medical Research
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
  • Columbia University
  • Huazhong University of Science and Technology
  • University of New South Wales
  • University of Edinburgh
  • University of Zagreb
  • MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research
  • NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
  • Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne
  • Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
  • University of Cologne
  • University of Ljubljana
  • NorthShore University HealthSystem
  • Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Carleton College
  • Argmix Consulting
  • Kyushu University
  • Heinrich Pette Institute - Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology
  • University of Hamburg
  • The Earlham Institute
  • University of East Anglia
  • The Institute of Cancer Research
  • Partner Site Hamburg-Borstel-Lübeck-Riems
  • Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research
  • Westmead Hospital
  • SA Pathology
  • University of Sydney
  • Garvan Institute of Medical Research
  • Princess Alexandra Hospital
  • South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service
  • The University of Auckland
  • Beatson Oncology Centre
  • Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
  • Western Sydney University
  • University of Newcastle
  • Monash University
  • Epworth HealthCare
  • Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute
  • James Cook University Queensland
  • Bioplatforms Australia
  • Macquarie University
  • Children's Medical Research Institute
  • University Health Network
  • University of Nebraska Medical Center
  • Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN
  • BioSpecimen Sciences
  • University of California at Davis
  • Human Longevity, Inc.
  • Toronto General Hospital
  • University of Manchester
  • Hefei University of Technology
  • Air Force Medical University
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University
  • University of Leeds
  • International Agency for Research on Cancer
  • University of Latvia
  • Centre National de Recherche en Génomique Humaine
  • Gachon University
  • Provincial Health Services Authority
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • University of Oslo
  • Lund University
  • Centre Léon Bérard
  • Radboud University Nijmegen
  • Netherlands Cancer Institute
  • Université libre de Bruxelles
  • University of Antwerp
  • Icelandic Cancer Society
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Academia Sinica - Institute of Biomedical Sciences
  • Academic Medical Center
  • Hanyang University
  • University of Ulsan
  • Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • University of Bergen
  • Centre Georges-François Leclerc
  • King’s College London School of Medicine
  • Hôpital Jean Minjoz
  • NHS Tayside
  • Centre régional de lutte du cancer Val d'Aurelle
  • University of Iceland
  • Institut Curie
  • Singapore General Hospital
  • Université de Lyon
  • IRCCS Istituto tumori Giovanni Paolo II - Bari
  • Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1
  • Hannover Medical School
  • Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
  • Friedrich-Ebert-Hospital
  • University of Münster
  • University of Würzburg
  • Goethe University Frankfurt
  • University of Göttingen
  • University of Duisburg-Essen
  • PraxisClinic am Johannisplatz
  • Robert Bosch Foundation
  • Justus Liebig University Giessen
  • St.-Antonius-Hospital Eschweiler
  • Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
  • St. Jude Children Research Hospital
  • National Institute of Biomedical Genomics
  • Tata Memorial Hospital
  • University of Padua
  • Keio University
  • Yokohama City University
  • The University of Osaka
  • Hiroshima University
  • Tokyo Women's Medical University
  • Osaka International Cancer Institute
  • Wakayama Medical University
  • Hokkaido University
  • Khon Kaen University
  • Fundeni Clinical Institute
  • Keimyung University
  • University of Oviedo
  • Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
  • Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust
  • University of Pavia
  • Northern Care Alliance NHS Group
  • Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
  • King's College London
  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
  • Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
  • University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
  • Queen's University Belfast
  • University of Southampton
  • Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
  • Queen Mary University of London
  • Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
  • HCA Laboratories
  • University of Liverpool
  • Naval Medical University
  • Imperial College London
  • Case Western Reserve University
  • University of Calgary
  • Buck Institute for Age Research
  • Duke University
  • University of Southern California
  • Fox Chase Cancer Center
  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • International Genomics Consortium
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • IRCCS Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta - Milano
  • University of Florida
  • University of Miami
  • University of Tennessee Health Science Center
  • Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Indivumed GmbH
  • George Washington University
  • National Cancer Center Korea
  • LLC Biobank
  • New York University
  • Institute for Systems Biology
  • Children's Hospital Los Angeles
  • Nationwide Children’s Hospital
  • Henry Ford Health System
  • Roswell Park Cancer Institute
  • Penrose St. Francis Health Services
  • Cleveland Clinic Foundation
  • Christiana Care Health System
  • Cureline
  • Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Emory University
  • Vanderbilt University
  • Analytical Biological Services, Inc.
  • Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
  • Augusta University
  • International Institute for Molecular Oncology
  • University of Medical Sciences Poznan

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

2268 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale1–3. Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4–5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter4; identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation5,6; analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution7; describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity8,9; and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes8,10–18.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)82-93
Number of pages12
JournalNature
Volume578
Issue number7793
DOIs
StatePublished - 06 02 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

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