PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Joao M Alves
AU  - Sonia Prado-Lopez
AU  - Jose Manuel Cameselle-Teijeiro
AU  - David Posada
TI  - Rapid evolution and biogeographic spread in a colorectal cancer
AID  - 10.1101/623850
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 623850
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/05/02/623850.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/05/02/623850.full
AB  - How and when tumoral clones start spreading to surrounding and distant tissues is currently unclear. Here, we leveraged a model-based evolutionary framework to investigate the demographic and biogeographic history of a colorectal cancer. Our analyses strongly support an early monoclonal metastatic colonization, followed by a rapid population expansion at both primary and secondary sites. Moreover, we infer a hematogenous metastatic spread seemingly under positive selection, plus the return of some tumoral cells from the liver back to the colon lymph nodes. This study illustrates how sophisticated techniques typical of organismal evolution can provide a detailed picture of the complex tumoral dynamics over time and space.