Divergent Evolution in Bilateral Prostate Cancer: a Case Study

medRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Aug 23:2024.08.22.24312320. doi: 10.1101/2024.08.22.24312320.

Abstract

Multifocal prostate cancer is a prevalent phenomenon, with most cases remaining uncharacterized from a genomic perspective. A patient presented with bilateral prostate cancer. On systematic biopsy, two indistinguishable clinicopathologic lesions were detected. Whole-genome sequencing displayed somatically unrelated tumours with distinct driver CNA regions, suggesting independent origins of the two tumors. We demonstrated that similar clinicopathologic multifocal tumours, which might be interpreted as clonal disease, can in fact represent independent cancers. Genetic prognostics can prevent mischaracterization of multifocal disease to enable optimal patient management.

Publication types

  • Preprint