Loss of heterozygosity preferentially occurs in early replicating regions in cancer genomes.

ABSTRACT: Erroneous repair of DNA double-strand breaks by homologous recombination (HR) leads to loss of heterozygosity (LOH). Analysing 22,392 and 74,415 LOH events in 363 glioblastoma and 513 ovarian cancer samples, respectively, and using three different metrics, we report that LOH selectively occurs in early replicating regions; this pattern differs from the trends for point mutations and somatic deletions, which are biased toward late replicating regions. Our results are independent of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation status. The LOH events are significantly clustered near RNA polII-bound transcription start sites, consistent with the reports that slow replication near paused RNA polII might initiate HR-mediated repair. The frequency of LOH events is higher in the chromosomes with shorter inter-homolog

SUBMITTER: Pedersen BS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3763542 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature