{"entity":{"id":"clonal-evolution-tracking","kind":"technology","name":"Tumour clonal evolution tracking","aka":[],"tldr":"Sequencing several parts of a tumour, or blood over time, to draw its family tree of mutations and see which branches drive relapse and resistance.","summary":"Multi-region and longitudinal sequencing reconstruct a tumour's subclonal architecture and phylogeny. Studies such as TRACERx in lung cancer showed that chromosomal instability and subclonal expansion predict relapse, and that circulating tumour DNA can track which clones survive treatment. The concepts of truncal versus branch mutations shape target selection: a drug against a truncal mutation hits every cell, one against a branch mutation hits only a subclone.","status":"emerging","asOf":"2026-09-04","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_evolution_in_cancer","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_evolution_in_cancer"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["nsclc"],"sections":["drug-discovery","diagnostics"],"technologies":["liquid-biopsy","mrd-testing"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Sequence multiple tumour regions or serial plasma samples, cluster mutations by cellular fraction, and build phylogenetic trees that order events and quantify heterogeneity.","strengths":["Explains resistance and relapse mechanistically","Distinguishes truncal targets from subclonal ones","Now feasible from blood over time"],"limitations":["Sampling still misses clones","Analysis methods vary","Not yet a clinical test"]},"route":"/technologies/clonal-evolution-tracking/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/nsclc/"}],"section":[{"id":"diagnostics","kind":"section","name":"Diagnostics & Biomarkers","route":"/fronts/diagnostics/"},{"id":"drug-discovery","kind":"section","name":"Drug Discovery Platforms","route":"/fronts/drug-discovery/"}],"technology":[{"id":"liquid-biopsy","kind":"technology","name":"Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)","route":"/technologies/liquid-biopsy/"},{"id":"mrd-testing","kind":"technology","name":"MRD / molecular residual disease testing","route":"/technologies/mrd-testing/"}]}}