https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180906141313.htm
Citando:
"A tumor composed of billions of cells is riddled with genetic mutations; cancer cells and normal cells acquire multiple mutations as they divide. Identifying the driver mutations that significantly contribute to cancer development is critical to precision oncology, in which doctors aim to treat a patient's cancer based on its genetic composition.
"Doctors might take a sample of the primary tumor and find some mutation -- call it mutation X -- in a driver gene and then treat it with a drug that targets that driver gene to specifically kill all cells that have mutation X," Reiter said. "But what if that particular mutation is only present in some of the metastases of the patient?" Only the metastases composed of cells with mutation X would respond to treatment and shrink or go extinct; those without mutation X would continue to grow. In the end, the doctor wouldn't see a remission of the patient's cancer if driver mutations were different across its metastases. "So that's why it's very important for us to know whether or not the driver gene mutations are the same across all metastases of the patient," Reiter said."
