Related papers: Clonal Diversity at Cancer Recurrence

Comparative studies of cancer-related genes allow us to gain novel information about the evolution and function of these genes, but also to understand cancer as a driving force in biological systems and species life histories. So far,…

Histopathological evidence supports the idea that the emergence of phenotypic heterogeneity and resistance to cytotoxic drugs can be considered as a process of adaptation, or evolution, in tumor cell populations. In this framework, can we…

Initiation and development of a malignant tumor is a complex phenomenon that has critical stages determining its long time behavior. This phenomenon is mathematically described by means of various models: from simple heuristic models to…

We consider an exponentially growing population of cells undergoing mutations and ask about the effect of reproductive fluctuations (genetic drift) on its long-term evolution. We combine first step analysis with the stochastic dynamics of a…

Two important problems affect the ability of asexual populations to accumulate beneficial mutations, and hence to adapt. First, clonal interference causes some beneficial mutations to be outcompeted by more-fit mutations which occur in the…

Phenotypic heterogeneity in cancer cells is widely observed and is often linked to drug resistance. In several cases, such heterogeneity in drug sensitivity of tumors is driven by stochastic and reversible acquisition of a drug tolerant…

RNA virus populations will undergo processes of mutation and selection resulting in a mixed population of viral particles. High throughput sequencing of a viral population subsequently contains a mixed signal of the underlying clones. We…

Most human tumors result from the accumulation of multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations in a single cell. Mutations that confer a fitness advantage to the cell are known as driver mutations and are causally related to tumorigenesis.…

It is increasingly common clinically for cancer specimens to be examined using techniques that identify somatic mutations. In principle these mutational profiles can be used to diagnose the tissue of origin, a critical task for the 3-5% of…

The evolution of the adaptive immune system is characterized by changes in the relative abundances of the B- and T-cell clones that make up its repertoires. To fully capture this evolution, we need to describe the complex dynamics of the…

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer developed from melanocytes. It is one of the most lethal types of cancer, accounting for approximately 75% of skin cancer deaths. Late stage melanoma is very difficult to treat, since the cancer cells are…

Background: A fundamental problem in cancer research is identifying the cell type that is capable of sustaining neoplastic growth and its origin from normal tissue cells. Recent investigations of a variety of tumor types have shown that…

Tumor cell populations can be thought of as being composed of homogeneous cell subpopulations, with each subpopulation being characterized by overlapping sets of single nucleotide variants (SNVs). Such subpopulations are known as subclones…

Biological living systems in general exhibit complex and diverse dynamics. The latter, in particular, is essential, since diversification increases the odds of survival of an organism while reducing the risk of extinction of the population.…

Cancer evolves continuously over time through a complex interplay of genetic, epigenetic, microenvironmental, and phenotypic changes. This dynamic behavior drives uncontrolled cell growth, metastasis, immune evasion, and therapy resistance,…

Drug resistance and metastasis - the major complications in cancer - both entail adaptation of cancer cells to stress, whether a drug or a lethal new environment. Intriguingly, these adaptive processes share similar features that cannot be…

According to the National Cancer Institute, there were 9.5 million cancer-related deaths in 2018. A challenge in improving treatment is resistance in genetically unstable cells. The purpose of this study is to evaluate unsupervised machine…

Cancer has become one of the most widespread diseases in the world. Specifically, breast cancer is diagnosed more often than any other type of cancer. However, breast cancer patients and their individual tumors are often unique. Identifying…

Clemmesen's hook refers to a commonly observed slowdown and rebound in breast cancer incidence around the age at menopause. It suggests a shift in the underlying carcinogenic dynamics, but the mechanistic basis remains poorly understood.…

Stochastic models of sequential mutation acquisition are widely used to quantify cancer and bacterial evolution. Across manifold scenarios, recurrent research questions are: how many cells are there with $n$ alterations, and how long will…