Global genomics project unravels cancer’s complexity at unprecedented scale

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A massive international effort has yielded multifaceted studies of more than 2,600 tumours from 38 tissues, generating a wealth of insights into the genetic basis of cancer.

By

  1. Marcin Cieslik

    1. Marcin Cieslik is in the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA, and in the Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan.

  2. Arul M. Chinnaiyan

    1. Arul M. Chinnaiyan is in the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA, and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Comprehensive genomic characterization of tumours became a major goal of cancer researchers as soon as the first human genome had been sequenced in 2001. Since then, advances in sequencing technology and analytical tools have allowed this research field to flourish. In six papers1–6 in this issue of Nature, the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium presents the most comprehensive and ambitious meta-analysis of cancer genomes so far. Unlike previous efforts that focused largely on protein-coding regions of the cancer genome, PCAWG analyses whole genomes. Each article scrutinizes an important aspect of cancer genetics — together, their findings will be key to understanding the full genetic complexity of cancer.

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Nature 578, 39-40 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00213-2

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