Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40499006›Full record

ArticleCancer research2025

Epigenetic Heritability of Cell Plasticity Drives Cancer Drug Resistance through a One-to-Many Genotype-to-Phenotype Paradigm.

Erica A Oliveira, Salvatore Milite, Javier Fernandez-Mateos, George D Cresswell, Erika Yara-Romero, Georgios Vlachogiannis, Bingjie Chen, Chela T James, Lucrezia Patruno, Gianluca Ascolani and 10 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cancer research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

20 authors.

Erica A Oliveira *Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-1624-4021
Salvatore Milite *Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-0156-3636
Javier Fernandez-Mateos *Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-4949-4131
George D CresswellCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-3303-068X
Erika Yara-RomeroCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0009-0002-7557-9128
Georgios VlachogiannisCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-3114-8772
Bingjie ChenCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-7689-2146
Chela T JamesComputational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-3996-0909
Lucrezia PatrunoDepartment of Informatics, Systems and Communication, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-3721-9984
Gianluca AscolaniDepartment of Informatics, Systems and Communication, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-5501-3368
Ahmet AcarCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-2478-8029
Timon HeideComputational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-1386-7469
Inmaculada SpiteriCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-1097-8972
Alex GraudenziDepartment of Informatics, Systems and Communication, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-5452-1918
Giulio CaravagnaDepartment of Mathematics, Informatics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-4240-3265
Andrea BertottiDepartment of Oncology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-8196-7608
Trevor A GrahamCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-9582-1597
Luca MagnaniDivision of Breast Cancer Research, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-7534-0785
Nicola ValeriCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-5426-5683
Andrea SottorivaCentre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-6709-9533

Funding

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) A18052Cancer Research UK (CRUK) A19771Cancer Research UK (CRUK) A22909Cancer Research UK (CRUK) A26815Cancer Research UK (CRUK) DRCNPG-May21_100001Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London Katherine and Douglas Longden Chair in OncologyFondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro ETS (AIRC) 21091Fondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro ETS (AIRC) 22790Fondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro ETS (AIRC) 24913Fondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro ETS (AIRC) 28961NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust/Institute of Cancer Research (BRC) CIG 334261Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust (WT) 202778/B/16/ZWellcome Trust (WT) 202778/Z/16/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cancer drug resistance is multifactorial, driven by heritable (epi)genetic changes but also by phenotypic plasticity. In this study, we dissected the drivers of resistance by perturbing organoids derived from patients with colorectal cancer longitudinally with drugs in sequence. Combined longitudinal lineage tracking, single-cell multiomics analysis, evolutionary modeling, and machine learning revealed that different targeted drugs select for distinct subclones, supporting rationally designed drug sequences. The cellular memory of drug resistance was encoded as a heritable epigenetic configuration from which multiple transcriptional programs could run, supporting a one-to-many (epi)genotype-to-phenotype map that explains how clonal expansions and plasticity manifest together. This epigenetic landscape may ensure drug-resistant subclones can exhibit distinct phenotypes in changing environments while still preserving the cellular memory encoding for their selective advantage. Chemotherapy resistance was instead entirely driven by transient phenotypic plasticity rather than stable clonal selection. Inducing further chromosomal instability before drug application changed clonal evolution but not convergent transcriptional programs. Collectively, these data show how genetic and epigenetic alterations are selected to engender a "permissive epigenome" that enables phenotypic plasticity. SIGNIFICANCE: Drug resistance is driven by genetic-epigenetic memory that enables cancer cells to adopt multiple phenotypic states depending on environmental conditions, supporting integration of evolutionary principles into biomarker discovery and personalized treatment strategies. This article is part of a special series: Driving Cancer Discoveries with Computational Research, Data Science, and Machine Learning/AI.

Indexed as

Cell PlasticityColorectal NeoplasmsDrug Resistance, NeoplasmEpigenesis, GeneticClonal EvolutionGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticGenotypeHumansOrganoidsPhenotype

Identifiers

PMID40499006
PMCPMC12314525

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.