Tracking colorectal cancer evolution in time and space

In the current issue of Annals of Oncology, Lote et al. shed light on the timelines of metastatic dissemination in a colorectal cancer patient [1]. We have long known that the process leading from a primary neoplasm to the formation of metastases involves years (often decades) [2–4]. However, the precise timelines of each step have been difficult to estimate with accuracy. Lote et al. exploited a clever approach involving clinical annotation of metastasis seeding coupled to mathematic calculations to reconstruct the chronological evolution of a colorectal cancer.

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