Mutant clones in normal epithelium outcompete and eliminate emerging tumours.

ABSTRACT: Human epithelial tissues accumulate cancer-driver mutations with age^1-9, yet tumour formation remains rare. The positive selection of these mutations suggests that they alter the behaviour and fitness of proliferating cells^10-12. Thus, normal adult tissues become a patchwork of mutant clones competing for space and survival, with the fittest clones expanding by eliminating their less competitive neighbours^11-14. However, little is known about how such dynamic competition in normal epithelia influences early tumorigenesis. Here we show that the majority of newly formed oesophageal tumours are eliminated through competition with mutant clones in the adjacent normal epithelium. We followed the fate of nascent, microscopic, pre-malignant tumours in a mouse mode

SUBMITTER: Colom B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7612642 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature