Abstract:
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Tumor heterogeneity is an emerging theme that we only start to understand recently. Many human tumors display genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity. These heterogeneities may have important implications in tumor progression, therapeutic effect and tumor prognosis. Here, we used multi-regional exome sequencing to study the tumor heterogeneity of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Our analysis revealed that HCC and ICC tumors have significant genetic heterogeneity. For many patients, the tumor cells from different regions often have different sets of targetable mutations. Further experimental analysis show that these subregional tumors respond differently to target therapies due to their genetic heterogeneity.
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