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Abstract

Unbalanced chromosome content, so-called aneuploidy, is a hallmark of cancer cells. Changes in the copy numbers of chromosomes or large chro- mosomal regions significantly alter the expression of several hundreds of genes that are gained or lost. At the same time, aneuploidy per se affects the transcription of many genes throughout the entire genome, as several pathways are activated or inhibited in response to changes in chromosome copy number. In recent years, a large amount of quantitative genome, tran- scriptome and proteome data has enabled comparison of the changes in gene expression observed in aneuploid cancer cells, as well as in model ane- uploid cells with defined karyotypes. Here, we summarize how aneuploidy shapes gene expression and how it may contribute to the phenotypes of cancer cells.