Molecular Oncology

Metastasis—the process by which cancer spreads from its original site to other parts of the body—remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Although decades of research have illuminated the genetic mutations that drive tumor initiation and growth, less is known about how a tumor’s genome evolves when it seeds new locations. A newly published study from Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) offers critical insights into this question, revealing that metastatic tumors accumulate large-scale chromosomal changes—known as copy-number alterations (CNAs)—far more frequently than simple point mutations. These findings, appearing June 2 in Nature Genetics, may reshape how clinicians predict metastatic progression, tailor targeted therapies, and deploy immunotherapy in advanced cancers.