Deciphering tumour heterogeneity of breast cancer metastases using barcoded patient derived xenografts

乳腺癌的死亡率主要是由原发肿瘤的转移引起的。众所周知，乳腺肿瘤包含多种不同的细胞，但细胞被选择用于肿瘤生长和转移的确切方式（以及它们对全身治疗的反应）尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们将使用患者样本和细胞“条形码”来跟踪疾病进展过程中每个单个克隆的命运，并研究各种治疗对转移的影响。

Breast cancer mortality is largely due to metastases that seed from the primary tumour. Breast tumours are known to contain a heterogeneous mix of cells, but the precise way that cells are selected for tumour growth and metastasis (as well as their response to systemic therapy) is not well understood. In this study we will use patient samples and cellular ‘barcoding’ to track the destiny of every single clone throughout disease progression and study the effect of various therapies on metastasis.