Genome Big Data to Analyze the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Tumor Evolution

Speaker: Zheng Hu (Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Date: April 28 Thur. 3:00pm

Venue: Tencent Meeting Room: 354 444 305   

Abstract: Understanding the evolutionary dynamics of tumor that are operative at different stages of progression informs the earlier detection, diagnosis, and treatment. We recently developed a spatial tumor growth model that allows us to quantitatively investigate the evolutionary dynamics of intra-tumor genetic heterogeneity during tumor growth and metastasis. By computational modeling of metastatic dissemination and genomic data analysis in a large cohort of paired primary tumors and metastases, we are able to quantify the timing of metastatic seeding and also the mode of tumor evolution. Our quantitative analyses revealed that metastatic dissemination in multiple cancers (including colorectal, breast and lung) commonly occur early as several years (typically 2-4 years) before detection of primary tumor, a time when the primary tumor is often clinically undetectable. Our results provide strong quantitative evidence for early metastatic spread with implications for the approach to systemic therapy in early-stage disease.