‘Patchwork’ tumors prevalent across multiple cancer types

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, as part of an international collaboration of scientists through the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium, have analyzed the whole genomes of tumor samples from over 2,600 patients with different types of cancer. They identified a high prevalence of genetic diversity within individual tumors, which they further characterized. Their findings confirm that, even at late stages of development, tumor evolution is driven by changes that benefit the cancer.