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Evolution Research Could Revolutionize Cancer Therapy
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Evolution Research Could Revolutionize Cancer Therapy

Evolutionary studies indicate that the genetic changes enabling a cancer to develop arise shockingly early within the primary tumor. This discovery points to a promising new approach to therapy

Jeffrey P. Townsend
Scientific American, 2018
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Scientific
  • Eye Opening
  • Visionary

Recommendation

The diversity of genetic sequences within an individual tumor has been a bane to oncologists, making it difficult to know which mutations are important and should be targeted. To evolutionary biologist Jeffrey Townsend and coworkers at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Medicine, this diversity of sequences held valuable information. Through sequence analysis they found that metastases do not arise late in tumor development, as had been assumed previously. Rather they can arise randomly from a primary tumor. Townsend’s article will captivate readers curious about how looking at data through a new lens can yield clinically relevant results.

Take-Aways

  • Evolutionary trees reveal the relationships between organisms, or cells, by tracking the divergence between their genetic sequences.
  • Cancers don’t evolve down a linear path. Metastases branch off from the primary tumor early and at random.
  • Future therapies might try to target the earliest mutations that drive cancer formation.

About the Author

Jeffrey P. Townsend is an associate professor of biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health and of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University.

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