Scanu Elisa, Werner Benjamin, Huang Weini
School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom.
Evolutionary Dynamics Group, Centre for Cancer Evolution, Barts Cancer Centre, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom.
bioRxiv. 2025 Jul 26:2024.10.22.619675. doi: 10.1101/2024.10.22.619675.
Extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) has emerged as a key driver of oncogene amplification and a major contributor to rapid intra-tumour heterogeneity, thereby promoting tumour progression and therapeutic resistance. This heterogeneity arises from pronounced cell-to-cell variability in ecDNA copy number, enabling complex ecDNA amplicon compositions within individual tumour cells. Approximately one-third of ecDNA-positive tumours harbour multiple co-selected ecDNA species. However, the mechanisms governing the heterogeneity and persistence of ecDNA variants - beyond the presence of distinct ecDNA species - remain less well understood. In particular, little is known about the maintenance of genetic or phenotypic diversity within a single ecDNA species. Here, we develop computational models to investigate the dynamics that enable the stable maintenance of tumour cells carrying multiple ecDNA variants ("mixed cells"). We explore how variant switching contributes to the persistence of ecDNA diversity under varying fitness regimes. Our results demonstrate that both a positive fitness of ecDNA+ cells and variant switching are required to maintain mixed cell subpopulations, whereas direct co-selection of mixed cells is not necessary. Notably, the fraction of mixed cells peaks at intermediate switching rates across fitness landscapes, a pattern reflected in subpopulation structures, transition probabilities between pure and mixed ecDNA states, and single-cell Shannon diversity indices.
染色体外DNA(ecDNA)已成为致癌基因扩增的关键驱动因素,也是肿瘤内快速异质性的主要促成因素,从而促进肿瘤进展和治疗抗性。这种异质性源于ecDNA拷贝数在细胞间的显著差异,使得单个肿瘤细胞内的ecDNA扩增子组成复杂。大约三分之一的ecDNA阳性肿瘤含有多种共同选择的ecDNA种类。然而,除了不同ecDNA种类的存在之外,控制ecDNA变异体的异质性和持久性的机制仍不太清楚。特别是,对于单个ecDNA种类内遗传或表型多样性的维持知之甚少。在这里,我们开发了计算模型来研究使携带多种ecDNA变异体的肿瘤细胞(“混合细胞”)得以稳定维持的动力学。我们探讨了变异体转换如何在不同的适应度条件下促进ecDNA多样性的持久性。我们的结果表明,ecDNA+细胞的正适应度和变异体转换都是维持混合细胞亚群所必需的,而混合细胞的直接共同选择则不是必需的。值得注意的是,混合细胞的比例在不同适应度景观的中间转换率处达到峰值,这一模式反映在亚群结构、纯ecDNA状态和混合ecDNA状态之间的转换概率以及单细胞香农多样性指数中。
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