Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Tumour heterogeneity in primary prostate cancer is a well-established phenomenon. However, how the subclonal diversity of tumours changes during metastasis and progression to lethality is poorly understood. Here we reveal the precise direction of metastatic spread across four lethal prostate cancer patients using whole-genome and ultra-deep targeted sequencing of longitudinally collected primary and metastatic tumours. We find one case of metastatic spread to the surgical bed causing local recurrence, and another case of cross-metastatic site seeding combining with dynamic remoulding of subclonal mixtures in response to therapy. By ultra-deep sequencing end-stage blood, we detect both metastatic and primary tumour clones, even years after removal of the prostate. Analysis of mutations associated with metastasis reveals an enrichment of TP53 mutations, and additional sequencing of metastases from 19 patients demonstrates that acquisition of TP53 mutations is linked with the expansion of subclones with metastatic potential which we can detect in the blood.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/ncomms7605

Type

Journal article

Journal

Nat Commun

Publication Date

01/04/2015

Volume

6

Keywords

Adenocarcinoma, Aged, Bone Neoplasms, Brain Neoplasms, DNA Copy Number Variations, Disease Progression, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Neoplasm Metastasis, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prostatic Neoplasms, RNA, Messenger, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Tumor Suppressor Protein p53