Implications of non-uniqueness in phylogenetic deconvolution of bulk DNA samples of tumors.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tumors exhibit extensive intra-tumor heterogeneity, the presence of groups of cellular populations with distinct sets of somatic mutations. This heterogeneity is the result of an evolutionary process, described by a phylogenetic tree. In addition to enabling clinicians to devise patient-specific treatment plans, phylogenetic trees of tumors enable researchers to decipher the mechanisms of tumorigenesis and metastasis. However, the problem of reconstructing a phylogenetic tree T given bulk sequencing data from a tumor is more complicated than the classic phylogeny inference problem. Rather than observing the leaves of T directly, we are given mutation frequencies that are the result of mixtures of the leaves of T. The majority of current tumor phyloge

SUBMITTER: Qi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6719395 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature