ChromothripsisDB: A curated database of chromothripsis

Abstract

Summary: Chromothripsis is a single catastrophic event that can lead to massive genomic rearrangements confined to one or a few chromosomes. It provides an alternative paradigm in cancer development and changes the conventional view that cancer develops in a stepwise progression. The mechanisms underlying chromothripsis and their specific impact on tumorigenesis are still poorly understood, and further examination of a large number of identified chromothripsis samples is needed. Unfortunately, this data are difficult to access, as they are scattered across multiple publications, come in different formats and descriptions, or are hidden in figures and supplementary materials. To improve access to this data and promote meta-analysis, we developed ChromothripsisDB, a manually curated database containing a unified description of all published chromothripsis cases and relevant genomic aberrations. Currently, 423 chromothripsis samples representing 107 research articles are included in our database. ChromothripsisDB represents an extraordinary resource for mining the existing knowledge of chromothripsis, and will facilitate the identification of mechanisms involved in this phenomenon.