RT Journal
A1 Zeng, Tianfu
A1 Liao, Haotian
A1 Xia, Lin
A1 You, Siyao
A1 Huang, Yanqun
A1 Zhang, Jiaxun
A1 Liu, Yahui
A1 Liu, Xuyan
A1 Xie, Dan
T1 Multisite long-read sequencing reveals the early contributions of somatic structural variations to HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma tumorigenesis
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2025 
FD April 01 
VO 35 
IS 4 
SP 671 
OP 685 
DO 10.1101/gr.279617.124 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/35/4/671.abstract 
AB Somatic structural variations (SVs) represent a critical category of genomic mutations in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the accurate identification of somatic SVs using short-read high-throughput sequencing is challenging. Here, we applied long-read nanopore sequencing and multisite sampling in a cohort of 42 samples from five patients. We found that adjacent nontumor tissue is not entirely normal, as significant somatic SV alterations were detected in these nontumor genomes. The adjacent nontumor tissue is highly similar to tumor tissue in terms of somatic SVs but differs in somatic single-nucleotide variants and copy number variations. The types of SVs in adjacent nontumor and tumor tissue are markedly different, with somatic insertions and deletions identified as early genomic events associated with HCC. Notably, hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA integration frequently results in the generation of somatic SVs, particularly inducing interchromosomal translocations (TRAs). Although HBV DNA integration into the liver genome occurs randomly, multisite shared HBV-induced SVs are early driving events in the pathogenesis of HCC. Long-read RNA sequencing reveals that some HBV-induced SVs impact cancer-associated genes, with TRAs being capable of inducing the formation of fusion genes. These findings enhance our understanding of somatic SVs in HCC and their role in early tumorigenesis.