Tumors grow and spread based upon the cellular surveillance. When this does not work, there are possibilities of tumors growing to be more aggressive, therefore, calling them tree sprouts within the mutations. Within a single patient, tumors are contained of many different mutations. With this piece of information, researchers were able to take it and develop a tree which illustrates the tumors changes as it starts to grow to what seemed to be small at first, but then suddenly emerged.
Tree Branches from the original primary tumors linked to metastases. Before the tumor is even diagnosed, it has already spread profusely. Because of this, study suggests that researchers should tackle the tumor at the very beginning instead of focusing on what is happening later in the mutations. To have a better understanding and recovery, these mutant genes can be eliminated with the drugs given to the patience. Distinct cells are likely to strengthen into more aggressive forms which can lead to spreading of these mechanisms.
According to the article, linear models have been guiding researchers for decades. They’ve found that some mutations are leading to tumorigenesis. Researchers are Designing an evolutionary tree in hopes to have leaves and seeds to emerge. In other words, answers as to why these primary tumors are becoming more aggressive and spreading. Because of these observations, researchers are asking questions in hopes to reveal genetic trajectories to the birth of the primary tumor and its metastases.
Instead of using present day, the sequence of the ancestors is a better approach. In other words, using modern day sequences, it would not possess the same result needed for the history researchers are interested in. By applying the classical approach to the primary and metastasis lineages, the trees are then computed to the succession of changes. After a single cell is broken free from a primary tumor, researchers can assume that the genetic sequence from each secondary tumor is closer to being related to other secondary tumors than a primary tumor. However, the result was not what they expected it to be. For example, multiple genetic lineages from primary tumors had now been metastatic.
Researchers also wondered about applying another technique from evolutionary biology. This new technique would be called, the construction of time trees. The meaning behind it is to understand the progress of cancer within human bodies. One cannot do research before someone is born or even before the cancer was diagnosed. Collecting data from graphs will allow scientist to know when the key changes in genetic sequences and mutation rates happened. To do so, they took primary tissue before autopsies, medical records with birthdays, diagnosis, biopsy, surgeries removing tumors to insure on having calibration points. After collecting all the data necessary for this experiment, scientist’s ha a better understanding of when the first genetic mutation differentiated the cancer cells. Also, in young patients’ scientists can tell that the divergence happened a few years before, however, in older patients, there were possibilities that it happened decades before.
The first genetic mutation to discover tumor tissues from normal tissue happened decades before the cancer can even be diagnosed. According to the article, there has been seven cases where the malignant branch separated from the trunk closer to primary tumors than to the patient’s death. Because researchers were not getting much out of looking at the genetics of the metastatic lineages, they started to focus more on the evolution of the original tumor. After testing this theory, there was a finding that the mutation was happening in DNA that led to altering cellular function of genes that already played a role in cancer. During their research of the origin of tumors, they made the conclusion that the genes played a formative role in the roots of cancer lineages.
Targeted drugs and immunotherapy tumors are now starting to evolve resistance. Using targeted drugs are meant to prevent the lesser known genes that are in the branches of the tree from threatening patients’ lives by killing off other kinds of cancer cells. However, there is a chance of early drug targeting leading to resistance against the growth of cells featuring specific new mutations. On the other hand, researchers have a plan to computing patients’ cancer trees and scanning for mutations on the branches that lead to treatment resistant tissue.