TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring and modelling colon cancer inter-tumour heterogeneity
T2 - opportunities and challenges
AU - Buikhuisen, Joyce Y.
AU - Torang, Arezo
AU - Medema, Jan Paul
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - Colon cancer inter-tumour heterogeneity is installed on multiple levels, ranging from (epi)genetic driver events to signalling pathway rewiring reflected by differential gene expression patterns. Although the existence of heterogeneity in colon cancer has been recognised for a longer period of time, it is sparingly incorporated as a determining factor in current clinical practice. Here we describe how unsupervised gene expression-based classification efforts, amongst which the consensus molecular subtypes (CMS), can stratify patients in biological subgroups associated with distinct disease outcome and responses to therapy. We will discuss what is needed to extend these subtyping efforts to the clinic and we will argue that preclinical models recapitulate CMS subtypes and can be of vital use to increase our understanding of treatment response and resistance and to discover novel targets for therapy.
AB - Colon cancer inter-tumour heterogeneity is installed on multiple levels, ranging from (epi)genetic driver events to signalling pathway rewiring reflected by differential gene expression patterns. Although the existence of heterogeneity in colon cancer has been recognised for a longer period of time, it is sparingly incorporated as a determining factor in current clinical practice. Here we describe how unsupervised gene expression-based classification efforts, amongst which the consensus molecular subtypes (CMS), can stratify patients in biological subgroups associated with distinct disease outcome and responses to therapy. We will discuss what is needed to extend these subtyping efforts to the clinic and we will argue that preclinical models recapitulate CMS subtypes and can be of vital use to increase our understanding of treatment response and resistance and to discover novel targets for therapy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087864129&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41389-020-00250-6
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41389-020-00250-6
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32647253
SN - 2157-9024
VL - 9
SP - 66
JO - Oncogenesis
JF - Oncogenesis
IS - 7
M1 - 66
ER -