Benjamin Werner

Nov 6, 2024 | nature.com | L. T. Hung |Britney Jiayu He |Jens Luebeck |Lotte Brückner |Xiaowei Yan |Rocio Gonzalez | +8 more

AbstractThe chromosomal theory of inheritance dictates that genes on the same chromosome segregate together while genes on different chromosomes assort independently1. Extrachromosomal DNAs (ecDNAs) are common in cancer and drive oncogene amplification, dysregulated gene expression and intratumoural heterogeneity through random segregation during cell division2,3. Distinct ecDNA sequences, termed ecDNA species, can co-exist to facilitate intermolecular cooperation in cancer cells4.

Oct 13, 2024 | biorxiv.org | Alexander Stein |Benjamin Werner

AbstractGenetic intra-tumour heterogeneity (gITH) is a universal property of all cancers. It emerges from the interplay of cell division, mutation accumulation and selection with important implications for the evolution of treatment resistance. Theoretical and data-driven approaches extensively studied gITH in ageing somatic tissues or cancers at detection. Yet, the expected patterns of gITH during and after treatment are less well understood.

Sep 29, 2023 | biorxiv.org | Iftikhar Ahmed |David Dingli |Weini Huang |Benjamin Werner

AbstractThe concept of clonal fitness is fundamental to describe the evolutionary dynamics in somatic tissues. It is now well established that otherwise healthy somatic tissues become increasingly populated by expanding clones with age. However, the dynamic properties and respective fitnesses of these clones are less well understood.