Molecular Biology and Evolution of Cancer: From Discovery to Action

Jason A Somarelli; Heather Gardner; Vincent L Cannataro; Ella F Gunady; Amy M Boddy; Norman A Johnson; Jeffrey Nicholas Fisk; Stephen G Gaffney; Jeffrey H Chuang; Sheng Li; Francesca D Ciccarelli; Anna R Panchenko; Kate Megquier; Sudhir Kumar; Alex Dornburg; James DeGregori; Jeffrey P Townsend

doi:10.1093/molbev/msz242

Molecular Biology and Evolution of Cancer: From Discovery to Action

Mol Biol Evol. 2020 Feb 1;37(2):320-326. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msz242.

Authors

Jason A Somarelli^{1

2}, Heather Gardner³, Vincent L Cannataro⁴, Ella F Gunady¹, Amy M Boddy⁵, Norman A Johnson⁶, Jeffrey Nicholas Fisk⁷, Stephen G Gaffney⁷, Jeffrey H Chuang⁸, Sheng Li⁸, Francesca D Ciccarelli^{9

10}, Anna R Panchenko^{11

12}, Kate Megquier¹³, Sudhir Kumar¹⁴, Alex Dornburg¹⁵, James DeGregori¹⁶, Jeffrey P Townsend^{7

17

18}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
² Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
³ Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA.
⁴ Department of Biology, Emmanuel College, Boston, MA.
⁵ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA.
⁶ Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
⁷ Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT.
⁸ The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT.
⁹ Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom.
¹⁰ King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹¹ Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
¹² Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹³ Broad Institute, Massachusettes Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
¹⁴ Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine, and Department of Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
¹⁵ North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC.
¹⁶ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO.
¹⁷ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
¹⁸ Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Abstract

Cancer progression is an evolutionary process. During this process, evolving cancer cell populations encounter restrictive ecological niches within the body, such as the primary tumor, circulatory system, and diverse metastatic sites. Efforts to prevent or delay cancer evolution-and progression-require a deep understanding of the underlying molecular evolutionary processes. Herein we discuss a suite of concepts and tools from evolutionary and ecological theory that can inform cancer biology in new and meaningful ways. We also highlight current challenges to applying these concepts, and propose ways in which incorporating these concepts could identify new therapeutic modes and vulnerabilities in cancer.

Keywords: cancer; comparative oncology; fitness landscapes; genomics; metastasis; tumor phylogenetics.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Disease Progression
Evolution, Molecular
Genetic Fitness
Genomics / methods*
Humans
Neoplasms / genetics*
Phylogeny
Stem Cell Niche

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding