iCAN Science Seminar on The impact of Mobile DNA in cancer with Prof. Jose Tubio
Mobile DNA contributes to the genomic instability observed in various cancers. Around half of all cancers exhibit somatic integrations of retrotransposons. To better understand their role in oncogenesis, for the last 10 years Prof. Tubio’s group has been analyzing the patterns and mechanisms of somatic retrotransposition in thousands of cancer genomes. Aberrant L1 insertions can lead to the deletion of megabase-scale regions of chromosomes, often resulting in the loss of tumor suppressor genes, and can also trigger complex translocations and large-scale duplications. Additionally, somatic retrotransposition can initiate breakage–fusion–bridge cycles, leading to high-level amplification of oncogenes. These findings reveal the critical role of L1 retrotransposition in reshaping the cancer genome and its potential implications for the development and progression of human tumors.
In addition, the group has extensively characterized the role of HBV integration – another type of mobile DNA – in liver cancer. Using multiplatform sequencing technologies, they have identified a novel mutational mechanism in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) caused by Hepatitis B virus (HBV), whereby viral DNA is inserted into the tumor genome, inducing significant genomic reconfigurations. These include non-homologous chromosomal fusions, dicentric chromosomes, and megabase-scale telomeric deletions. This aberrant mutational mechanism, present in at least 8% of HCC tumors, is capable of providing key driver rearrangements necessary for cancer progression, including the loss of critical tumor suppressor genes. Remarkably, these HBV-mediated rearrangements are typically clonal and occur early in liver cancer evolution, with real-time timing estimates suggesting some of these events arise two decades before clinical diagnosis.
Overall, these findings emphasize the importance of profiling mobile DNA integration patterns in cancer genomes to better understand the underlying drivers of cancer progression and to inform potential therapeutic strategies.
To hear more, you are warmly welcomed to the iCAN Science Seminar with Prof. Jose Tubio (University of Santiago de Compostela) on The impact of Mobile DNA in cancer.
When: Fri 23.1.2026 at 9:00–10:00 UTC+2
Where: Biomedicum 1 (Haartmaninkatu 8, 00290 Helsinki) Seminar room 3, and on Zoom. (Meeting ID is 678 5961 5283. Please sign in to Zoom to join the seminar.)
Host: Tatiana Cajuso Pons
Minibio of Prof. Tubio: Jose Tubío (Santiago de Compostela, 1978) is the director of the Mobile Genomes Group at CiMUS, University of Santiago de Compostela. Since 2010, he has conducted research at the forefront of cancer genomics, contributing to the discovery of new cancer genes in hematological and bone tumors, the identification of novel mutational mechanisms in cancer, the characterization of processes driving metastatic dynamics, and the identification of mutational processes and genes underlying transmissible cancers.
He is internationally recognized for his seminal work on mobile DNA and cancer, including the discovery of previously unknown mutational processes driven by retrotransposons and hepatitis B virus integration in human tumors.
For more information on the seminar series, contact ican-comms@helsinki.fi