Chromatin marks shape mutation landscape at early stage of cancer progression

Somatic mutation rates in cancer differ across the genome in a cancer cell-type specific manner. Although key factors that contribute to the differences were identified, the major cancer progression stage when these factors associate with the mutation variance remained poorly investigated. Here, we analyzed whole-genome sequencing data of pre-cancerous and matching cancer tissues from 173 individuals and 423 normal tissue chromatin features to determine the critical stage of these features contributing to shaping the somatic mutation landscape. Our data showed that the establishment of somatic mutation landscape inferred by chromatin features occur early in the process of cancer progression, and gastric acid reflux environmental exposure-mediated epigenetic changes, represented as gastric metaplasia, at early stage can dramatically impact the somatic mutation landscape. We suggest a possible crucial role of chromatin features during the mutation landscape establishment at early stage of progression in a cancer-type specific manner.