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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Detecting Somatic Genetic Alterations in Tumor Specimens by Exon Capture and Massively Parallel Sequencing
Published on: October 18, 2013
Genome-scale mutational signature analysis in archived fixed tissues
Bérénice Chavanel1, François Virard2, Vincent Cahais1
1International Agency for Research on Cancer, Epigenomics and Mechanisms Branch, Lyon, France.
Abstract:
Mutation spectra and mutational signatures in cancerous and non-cancerous tissues can be identified by various established techniques of massively parallel sequencing (or next-generation sequencing) including whole-exome or whole-genome sequencing, and more recently by error-corrected/duplex sequencing. One rather underexplored area has been the genome-scale analysis of mutational signatures as markers of mutagenic exposures, and their impact on cancer driver events applied to formalin-fixed or alcohol-fixed paraffin embedded archived biospecimens. This review showcases successful applications of the next-generation sequencing methodologies in archived fixed tissues, including the delineation of the specific tissue fixation-related DNA damage manifesting as artifactual signatures, distinguishable from the true signatures that arise from biological mutagenic processes. Overall, we discuss and demonstrate how next-generation sequencing techniques applied to archived fixed biospecimens can enhance our understanding of cancer causes including mutagenic effects of extrinsic cancer risk agents, and the implications for prevention efforts aimed at reducing avoidable cancer-causing exposures.
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