Cited by 500Cancer Genomics and DiagnosticsSingle-cell and spatial transcriptomicsAcute Myeloid Leukemia Research

RNA sequence analysis reveals macroscopic somatic clonal expansion across normal tissues

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Yizhak, Keren, Aguet, François, Kim, Jaegil, Hess, Julian M., Kübler, Kirsten, Grimsby, Jonna, Frazer, Ruslana, Zhang, Hailei +12 more·2019·Science

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Abstract

How somatic mutations accumulate in normal cells is poorly understood. A comprehensive analysis of RNA sequencing data from ~6700 samples across 29 normal tissues revealed multiple somatic variants, demonstrating that macroscopic clones can be found in many normal tissues. We found that sun-exposed skin, esophagus, and lung have a higher mutation burden than other tested tissues, which suggests that environmental factors can promote somatic mosaicism. Mutation burden was associated with both age and tissue-specific cell proliferation rate, highlighting that mutations accumulate over both time and number of cell divisions. Finally, normal tissues were found to harbor mutations in known cancer genes and hotspots. This study provides a broad view of macroscopic clonal expansion in human tissues, thus serving as a foundation for associating clonal expansion with environmental factors, aging, and risk of disease.

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  • Aging is associated with a steady increase in the number of somatic mutations in virtually all tissues.

    “Aging is associated with a steady increase in the number of somatic mutations in virtually all tissues 1–5.”

    From Clonal hematopoiesis in human aging and disease (2019) · cites this paper as [5]

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Authors
Yizhak, K., Aguet, F., Kim, J., Hess, J. M., Kübler, K., Grimsby, J., Frazer, R., Zhang, H., Haradhvala, N. J., Rosebrock, D., Livitz, D., Li, X., Arich-Landkof, E., Shoresh, N., Stewart, C., Segrè, A. V., Branton, P. A., Polak, P., Ardlie, K. G., & Getz, G.
Affiliations
  • Broad Institute (US)
  • Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
Corresponding author
Getz, Gad
Venue
Science
Published
2019-06-07
Volume
364
Issue
6444
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2948371032
Cited by
500
References
117
Citations by year
2026: 33 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 75 · 2021: 109 · 2020: 88 · 2019: 48
FWCI
25.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-nd
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Israel Science Foundation
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HHSN268201000029C)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM008313)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research
Keywords
somatic mosaicism, somatic mutations, normal tissue, mutational burden, sun-exposed skin, esophagus, lung, aging, cell proliferation rate, cancer genes, mutational hotspots, environmental factors
MeSH terms
Clone Cells, DNA Mutational Analysis, Female, Humans, Male, Neoplasms, Organ Specificity, Sequence Analysis, RNA

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