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Tumour heterogeneity in the clinic

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Abstract

Recent therapeutic advances in oncology have been driven by the identification of tumour genotype variations between patients, called interpatient heterogeneity, that predict the response of patients to targeted treatments. Subpopulations of cancer cells with unique genomes in the same patient may exist across different geographical regions of a tumour or evolve over time, called intratumour heterogeneity. Sequencing technologies can be used to characterize intratumour heterogeneity at diagnosis, monitor clonal dynamics during treatment and identify the emergence of clinical resistance during disease progression. Genetic interpatient and intratumour heterogeneity can pose challenges for the design of clinical trials that use these data.

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Figure 1: Clinical-trial design frameworks.

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Acknowledgements

Supported in part by the Cancer Care Ontario Applied Cancer Research Units Grant (P.L.B, L.L.S) and by the US National Institute of Health Grant U01 GM61393 (M.J.R).

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Correspondence to Lillian L. Siu.

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P.L.B. is a consultant for Roche/Genentech, Novartis and Sanofi, receives research funding (clinical trials) from Roche/Genentech, GlazoSmithKline, Novaris, Sanofi and Servier. M.J.R is a consultant (DSMB chair) for Roche/Genentec, a consultant for Daiichi Sankyo and receives research funding (clinical trial) from Bristol-Myers Squibb. L.L.S receives research funding (clinical trial) from Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Roche/Genentech

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Bedard, P., Hansen, A., Ratain, M. et al. Tumour heterogeneity in the clinic. Nature 501, 355–364 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12627

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