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Updated: May 10, 2026

Detection of Copy Number Alterations Using Single Cell Sequencing
Published on: February 17, 2017
Large-scale integrative network-based analysis identifies common pathways disrupted by copy number alterations across
Tae Hyun Hwang1, Gowtham Atluri, Rui Kuang
1Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA. taehyun.hwang@utsouthwestern.edu
This study introduces a network-based method to identify common cancer pathways disrupted by copy number alterations across 16 cancer types. The findings reveal crucial pathways for tumor formation and offer molecular markers for cancer subtyping.
Area of Science:
- Genomics
- Bioinformatics
- Cancer Research
Background:
- Large-scale genomic studies identify cancer-specific altered pathways.
- Comprehensive analysis of copy number alteration-driven pathways across diverse human cancers is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a network-based method for integrating copy number alteration data with biological networks.
- To identify commonly and specifically disrupted pathways across multiple human cancer types.
Main Methods:
- Applied a network-based approach to analyze copy number alteration data from 2,172 cancer patients across 16 cancer types.
- Integrated protein-protein interaction networks and pathway databases.
- Validated findings using independent gene expression datasets.
Main Results:
- Identified a set of commonly disrupted pathways essential for tumor formation in most cancers.
- Discovered cancer-specific disrupted pathways, serving as potential molecular markers.
- Demonstrated that commonly disrupted pathways can stratify patients based on survival outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Network-based integrative analysis effectively identifies copy number alteration-disrupted pathways across diverse cancers.
- This method surpasses conventional approaches in uncovering cross-cancer pathway alterations.
- Results and code are publicly available for further research.
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