Cancer genomes evolve by pulverizing single chromosomes.

Meyerson, Matthew; Pellman, David · Cell · 2011

editorial · Level V

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Abstract

A report in this issue describes "chromothripsis," a new mechanism for genetic instability in cancer cells. Chromothripsis appears to be a cataclysmic event in which a single chromosome is fragmented and then reassembled. The phenomenon raises important questions of how chromosome rearrangements can be confined to defined genome segments.