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Cancer genetics

Evolution after tumour spread

Nature volume 482, pages 481–482 (2012)Cite this article

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A genetic study of brain cancers in mice and humans reveals distinct mutations in primary tumours and their metastases, suggesting that the two disease 'compartments' may require different treatments.

The spread of a primary tumour to secondary sites in the body is a key step in the development of many cancers, and treatment of these secondary metastatic tumours represents one of the foremost challenges in oncology. In an article published on Nature's website today, Wu et al.1 describe two new mouse strains that serve as models of metastasis in the childhood brain cancer medulloblastoma. In the mice, primary and metastatic tumours seem to occupy two genetically distinct 'compartments', which arise from divergent DNA-sequence mutations that occur after metastasis. The authors also detect similar differences in human medulloblastoma tumours — a finding that may influence the development of anticancer therapies.

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Figure 1: A bi-compartmental genetic model of cancer metastasis.

References

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  1. Steven C. Clifford is at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK.,

    Steven C. Clifford

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  1. Steven C. Clifford
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Correspondence to Steven C. Clifford.

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Clifford, S. Evolution after tumour spread. Nature 482, 481–482 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10949

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