Dr. Takaaki Watanabe　(Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, CA, USA)

2014年12月02日(火) 11:00 より 12:00 まで

明大寺地区１階　会議室 (111)　

石川 雅樹 (7548), 長谷部 光康(7546)

Recent advances in sequencing technologies have demonstrated the extent of the heterogeneity of cancer genomes and provided new insights into cancer genome evolution. The intra-tumor genetic heterogeneity could determine disease progression and clinical outcome in cancer medicine.

Here I introduce our recent studies of structural evolution of amplified extra-chromosomal segments in cancer cells. Focusing on the molecular basis, I show DNA replication fork stalling by lncRNA transcription can form a rearrangement hotspot. Our study covers two hot topics in this field: R-loops, transcription byproducts that constitute a threat to genome integrity, and breast tumor suppressor BRCA2, “chromosome custodian” that participates in homology-directed repair pathways and protects stalled replication forks. I will discuss how the replication-based mechanism we demonstrated could underlie Chromothripsis-like complex rearrangements in cancer cells.

Our results may highlight the new role of lncRNA transcription that could contribute to genome evolution.

※セミナーは英語で行われます。