Starfish infers signatures of complex genomic rearrangements across human cancers

Bao et. al. develop the algorithm Starfish, to identify six signatures of complex genomic rearrangements in human cancer genomics datasets, including a pattern called hourglass chromothripsis which is prominent in prostate cancer. Complex genomic rearrangements (CGRs) are common in cancer and are known to form via two aberrant cellular structures-micronuclei and chromatin bridges. However, which of these mechanisms is more relevant to CGR formation in cancer and whether there are other undiscovered mechanisms remain unknown. Here we developed a computational algorithm, 'Starfish', to analyze 2,014 CGRs from 2,428 whole-genome-sequenced (WGS) tumors and discovered six CGR signatures based on their copy number and breakpoint patterns. Extensive benchmarking showed that our CGR signatures are highly accurate and biologically meaningful. Three signatures can be attributed to known biological processes-micronuclei- and chromatin-bridge-induced chromothripsis and circular extrachromosomal DNA. Over half of the CGRs belong to the remaining three signatures, not reported previously. A unique signature, which we named 'hourglass chromothripsis', with localized breakpoints and a low amount of DNA loss, is abundant in prostate cancer. Hourglass chromothripsis is associated with mutant SPOP, which may induce genome instability.