Human Tumor Atlas Network

Tumor evolution and microenvironment interactions in 2D and 3D space

Molecular profiling approaches are key for providing insights into the biology and clinical behavior of cancer. However, such profiling approaches have typically been applied to dissociated cancer tissues without the spatial context of intercellular interactions within the tumor microenvironment. This study by Li Ding and colleagues provides a rich resource of spatially resolved genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic profiles across 131 tumor sections of various cancer types. As well as providing biological insights into the clonality and cellular organization of tumor subregions, this detailed and multilayered resource is ripe for future mining by the cancer community.

Temporal recording of mammalian development and precancer

Lineage tracing methods based on CRISPR evolving barcodes are powerful for tracking the cellular histories of normal tissues and pathological ones such as cancer. In this study, Ken Lau and colleagues apply CRISPR lineage tracing to mouse development and mouse models of colorectal cancer. They identify timings and cell types underlying tissue-specific cell expansion during embryonic mouse development and during transitions to cancer. One notable finding is a polyclonal make-up of early cancers, with this clonal diversity becoming reduced during the transition to advanced cancers; this finding was recapitulated in human colorectal cancer samples from different stages of progression.

Multi-omic analysis of familial adenomatous polyposis reveals molecular pathways associated with early tumorigenesis

Snyder and colleagues chart the key genomic, cellular and molecular events underpinning the earliest steps in colorectal cancer formation with a comprehensive multiomic atlas of transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and lipidomic datasets from normal mucosal tissue, benign polyps, and dysplastic polyps. The atlas represents 93 samples from 6 patients with familial adenomatous polyposis.