Subclonal Genomic Architectures of Primary and Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Based on Intratumoral Genetic Heterogeneity

Abstract

Our data show that the genetic ITH is prevalent in colorectal cancer serving as a potential driving force to generate metastasis-initiating clones and also as a means to infer the intratumoral evolutionary history of cancers. The paucity of recurrent metastasis-clonal events suggests that colorectal cancer distant metastases may not follow a uniform course of genomic evolution, which should be considered in the genetic diagnosis and the selection of therapeutic targets for the advanced colorectal cancer.