Cited by 1,443Cancer Genomics and DiagnosticsCancer Cells and MetastasisSingle-cell and spatial transcriptomics

The Life History of 21 Breast Cancers

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Nik-Zainal, Serena, Van Loo, Peter, Wedge, David C., Alexandrov, Ludmil B., Greenman, Christopher D., Lau, King Wai, Raine, Keiran, Jones, David +41 more·2012·Cell

Abstract

Cancer evolves dynamically as clonal expansions supersede one another driven by shifting selective pressures, mutational processes, and disrupted cancer genes. These processes mark the genome, such that a cancer's life history is encrypted in the somatic mutations present. We developed algorithms to decipher this narrative and applied them to 21 breast cancers. Mutational processes evolve across a cancer's lifespan, with many emerging late but contributing extensive genetic variation. Subclonal diversification is prominent, and most mutations are found in just a fraction of tumor cells. Every tumor has a dominant subclonal lineage, representing more than 50% of tumor cells. Minimal expansion of these subclones occurs until many hundreds to thousands of mutations have accumulated, implying the existence of long-lived, quiescent cell lineages capable of substantial proliferation upon acquisition of enabling genomic changes. Expansion of the dominant subclone to an appreciable mass may therefore represent the final rate-limiting step in a breast cancer's development, triggering diagnosis.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cell.2012.04.023

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  1. 1000 Genomes Project Consortium. (2010). A map of human genome variation from population-scale sequencing. Nature 467, 1061–1073. PMC3042601 20981092
  2. Greenman, C.D., Pleasance, E.D., Newman, S., Yang, F., Fu, B., Nik-Zainal, S., Jones, D., Lau, K.W., Carter, N., Edwards, P.A., et al. (2012). Estimation of rearrangement phylogeny for cancer genomes. Genome Res. 22, 346–361. PMC3266042 21994251
  3. Van Loo, P., Nordgard, S.H., Lingjærde, O.C., Russnes, H.G., Rye, I.H., Sun, W., Weigman, V.J., Marynen, P., Zetterberg, A., Naume, B., et al. (2010). Allele-specific copy number analysis of tumors. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 107, 16910–16915. PMC2947907 20837533

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Authors
Nik-Zainal, S., Van Loo, P., Wedge, D. C., Alexandrov, L. B., Greenman, C. D., Lau, K. W., Raine, K., Jones, D., Marshall, J., Ramakrishna, M., Shlien, A., Cooke, S. L., Hinton, J., Menzies, A., Stebbings, L. A., Leroy, C., Jia, M., Rance, R., Mudie, L. J., Gamble, S. J., Stephens, P. J., McLaren, S., Tarpey, P. S., Papaemmanuil, E., Davies, H. R., Varela, I., McBride, D. J., Bignell, G. R., Leung, K., Butler, A. P., Teague, J. W., Martin, S., Jönsson, G., Mariani, O., Boyault, S., Miron, P., Fatima, A., Langerød, A., Aparicio, S. A. J. R., Tutt, A., Sieuwerts, A. M., Borg, Å., Thomas, G., Salomon, A. V., Richardson, A. L., Børresen-Dale, A.-L., Futreal, P. A., Stratton, M. R., & Campbell, P. J.
Affiliations
  • Wellcome Sanger Institute (GB)
  • University of East Anglia (GB)
  • King's College London (GB)
  • Institut Curie (FR)
  • Lyon 1 Université (FR)
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (US)
  • Oslo University Hospital (NO)
  • University of British Columbia (CA)
  • Erasmus MC (NL)
  • Lund University (SE)
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
Corresponding author
Campbell, Peter J.
Venue
Cell
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2012-05
Volume
149
Issue
5
Pages
994-1007
ISSN
0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2109991075
Cited by
1,443
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 51 · 2025: 77 · 2024: 83 · 2023: 84 · 2022: 71 · 2021: 112 · 2020: 105 · 2019: 93 · 2018: 114 · 2017: 103 · 2016: 100 · 2015: 126 · 2014: 139 · 2013: 140 · 2012: 44
FWCI
47.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
erratum (2015-08-13)
Open access
Locations
  • Cell (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
  • UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (acceptedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Lirias (KU Leuven) (submittedVersion)
  • Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion)
  • Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Apollo (cc-by)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust (088340, 093867, WT088340MA, 098051)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research
  • European Commission (242006)
  • National Cancer Institute (CA 089393, P50CA089393)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Cells and Metastasis
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
Keywords
breast cancer, tumor evolution, clonal evolution, somatic mutations, mutational processes, clonal expansion, cancer genomics
MeSH terms
Algorithms, Breast Neoplasms, Cell Transformation, Neoplastic, Chromosome Aberrations, Female, Humans, Mutation, Point Mutation, Clonal Evolution

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