Expressed Pseudogenes in the Translational Landscape of Human Cancers

In this study, we describe a systematic analysis of pseudogene 'transcription' from an RNA-Seq resource of 293 samples, from 13 cancer and normal tissue types. We observed a highly prevalent, genome-wide expression of pseudogenes that could be categorized as universally expressed or lineage- and/or cancer-specific. We also explored disease subtype specificity and functions of selected expressed pseudogenes. We provide evidence that transcribed pseudogenes are a significant contributor to the transcriptional landscape of cells and are positioned to play significant roles in cellular differentiation and cancer progression. Our work provides a transcriptome resource that enables high-throughput analyses of pseudogene expression.