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Big Bang and context-driven collapse

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Heterogeneity is the single most important factor driving cancer progression and treatment failure, yet little is understood about how and when this heterogeneity arises. A new study shows that colorectal cancers acquire their dominant mutations early in development and that subsequent mutations, even if they confer greater fitness, are unlikely to sweep through the tumor.

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Figure 1: Clonal heterogeneity is a product of spatiotemporal evolution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mark Robertson-Tessi and Alexander R. A. Anderson are in the Integrated Mathematical Oncology Department, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, USA.,

    Mark Robertson-Tessi & Alexander R A Anderson

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  1. Mark Robertson-Tessi
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  2. Alexander R A Anderson
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Correspondence to Mark Robertson-Tessi or Alexander R A Anderson.

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Robertson-Tessi, M., Anderson, A. Big Bang and context-driven collapse. Nat Genet 47, 196–197 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3231

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