SpacePAC

SpacePAC is a novel methodology designed to identify mutational clusters in tumor genomes, focusing on distinguishing driver mutations from passenger mutations. The tool integrates mutational data from the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) with spatial information from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) to consider the protein tertiary structure in 3D space directly. By doing so, SpacePAC offers an approach that considers the spatial context of mutations, aiming to identify clusters indicative of driver mutations. The tool demonstrates its effectiveness by identifying novel mutation clusters in various proteins such as FGFR3 and CHRM2. Additionally, SpacePAC excels in localizing significant mutational hotspots, exemplified in cases like BRAF and ALK.