Uncovering and quantifying the laws of the evolutionary dynamics of cancer, in particular in the context of specific genetic lesions and in individual patients, has the potential to revolutionize precision oncology. Recent technological advances in the study of human cancer have increased access to in vivo human data and have thereby facilitated the confirmation or refutation of existing theoretical models. In this Perspective, we discuss recent work at the intersection of quantitative mathematical models of cancer evolution and patient data that provides insights into different stages of tumor evolution, including premalignant and malignant progression and response to therapy.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute (1R01CA155010-01A1, P01CA206978, U10CA180861). C.J.W. is a Scholar of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
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I.B. and C.J.W. conceived of and wrote this Perspective.
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C.J.W. is founder of Neon Therapeutics and is a member of its scientific advisory board and receives research funding from Pharmacyclics.
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Bozic, I., Wu, C.J. Delineating the evolutionary dynamics of cancer from theory to reality. Nat Cancer 1, 580–588 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-020-0079-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-020-0079-6
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