Intra-tumor heterogeneity: lessons from microbial evolution and clinical implications

de Bruin, E. C., Taylor, T. B. and Swanton, C. (2013) Intra-tumor heterogeneity: lessons from microbial evolution and clinical implications. Genome Medicine, 5 (11). 101. ISSN 1756-994X doi: 10.1186/gm505

Abstract/Summary

Multiple subclonal populations of tumor cells can coexist within the same tumor. This intra-tumor heterogeneity will have clinical implications and it is therefore important to identify factors that drive or suppress such heterogeneous tumor progression. Evolutionary biology can provide important insights into this process. In particular, experimental evolution studies of microbial populations, which exist as clonal populations that can diversify into multiple subclones, have revealed important evolutionary processes driving heterogeneity within a population. There are transferrable lessons that can be learnt from these studies that will help us to understand the process of intra-tumor heterogeneity in the clinical setting. In this review, we summarize drivers of microbial diversity that have been identified, such as mutation rate and environmental influences, and discuss how knowledge gained from microbial experimental evolution studies may guide us to identify and understand important selective factors that promote intra-tumor heterogeneity. Furthermore, we discuss how these factors could be used to direct and optimize research efforts to improve patient care, focusing on therapeutic resistance. Finally, we emphasize the need for longitudinal studies to address the impact of these potential tumor heterogeneity-promoting factors on drug resistance, metastatic potential and clinical outcome.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/39006
Identification Number/DOI	10.1186/gm505
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Biomedical Sciences Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Publisher	BioMed Central
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