# Tumour evolution (somatic evolution)

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/tumour-evolution/  
OnCo record `tumour-evolution` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A tumour changes over time as its cells acquire mutations and the fittest clones take over, which is why cancers relapse and resist treatment.

## Summary

Somatic evolution, as Wikipedia summarises it, is the accumulation of mutations and epimutations in body cells over a lifetime and the effect of those changes on the cells' fitness; Vogelstein's colon cancer studies first showed it and the framework now explains progression, metastasis and resistance. Tracking clones through time from serial biopsies or blood is one of the mechanisms cancer models aim to learn.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: tumour evolution; tumor evolution; somatic evolution; somatic evolution in cancer; evolution of the tumour
- Tags: cansim-terms

## Notes

- Listed in the CanSim terms map 1.0.0 (docs/onco/terms.json, generated 2026-09-24), CC BY 4.0, attribution: CanSim project, an open, public-data-first cancer foundation-model programme; CanSim page path /terms/tumour-evolution.

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_evolution_in_cancer
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_evolution_in_cancer

## Connected records

- terms: [Cancer AI vocabulary (CanSim terms map)](https://onco.cc/terms/cancer-ai-vocabulary/), [Clonal evolution and the ecological view of cancer](https://onco.cc/terms/clonal-evolution-theory/), [Intra-tumour heterogeneity](https://onco.cc/terms/intra-tumour-heterogeneity/)
- technologies: [Tumour clonal evolution tracking](https://onco.cc/technologies/clonal-evolution-tracking/)
- pathways: [Clonal evolution & minimal residual disease](https://onco.cc/pathways/clonal-evolution/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/tumour-evolution.json