Timing somatic events in the evolution of cancer

Cancer arises through the accumulation of somatic mutations over time. An understanding of the sequence of events during this process should allow both earlier diagnosis and better prediction of cancer progression. However, the pathways of tumor evolution have not yet been comprehensively characterized. With the advent of whole genome sequencing, it is now possible to infer the evolutionary history of single tumors from the snapshot of their genome taken at diagnosis, giving new insights into the biology of tumorigenesis.