Experimental Approaches to Generate and Isolate Human Tetraploid Cells.

Cancer cells are frequently affected by large-scale chromosome copy number changes, such as polyploidy or whole chromosome aneuploidy, and thus understanding the consequences of these changes is important for cancer research. In the past, it has been difficult to study the consequences of large-scale genomic changes, especially in pure isogenic populations. Here, we describe two methods to generate tetraploid cells induced either by cytokinesis failure or mitotic slippage.

Whole-Genome Duplication Shapes the Aneuploidy Landscape of Human Cancers.

Unlabelled: Aneuploidy is a hallmark of cancer with tissue-specific prevalence patterns that suggest it plays a driving role in cancer initiation and progression. However, the contribution of aneuploidy to tumorigenesis depends on both cellular and genomic contexts. Whole-genome duplication (WGD) is a common macroevolutionary event that occurs in more than 30% of human tumors early in tumorigenesis.

Genetic instability from a single S phase after whole-genome duplication.

Diploid and stable karyotypes are associated with health and fitness in animals. By contrast, whole-genome duplications-doublings of the entire complement of chromosomes-are linked to genetic instability and frequently found in human cancers. It has been established that whole-genome duplications fuel chromosome instability through abnormal mitosis; however, the immediate consequences of tetraploidy in the first interphase are not known.

Loss of USP28 and SPINT2 expression promotes cancer cell survival after whole genome doubling.

Background: Whole genome doubling is a frequent event during cancer evolution and shapes the cancer genome due to the occurrence of chromosomal instability. Yet, erroneously arising human tetraploid cells usually do not proliferate due to p53 activation that leads to CDKN1A expression, cell cycle arrest, senescence and/or apoptosis.

Methods: To uncover the barriers that block the proliferation of tetraploids, we performed a RNAi mediated genome-wide screen in a human colorectal cancer cell line (HCT116).

Aneuploidy renders cancer cells vulnerable to mitotic checkpoint inhibition.

Selective targeting of aneuploid cells is an attractive strategy for cancer treatment. However, it is unclear whether aneuploidy generates any clinically relevant vulnerabilities in cancer cells. Here we mapped the aneuploidy landscapes of about 1,000 human cancer cell lines, and analysed genetic and chemical perturbation screens to identify cellular vulnerabilities associated with aneuploidy.