Few clinical trials incorporate studies of evolutionary cancer biology, despite the frequent emergence of acquired resistance to anticancer therapies. This problem motivated the first CRUK Marshall Symposium on Cancer Evolution in May 2017, which provided a forum for evolutionary and ecological theorists, cancer biologists, and clinicians to consider how evolutionary biology might inform improvements in cancer medicine. Herein, we discuss the key themes and opportunities for the future.
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Change history
12 September 2017
In the online version of this article, CRUK should have been included in all references to the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Marshall Symposium. In the acknowledgements section, a minor word change from funding to supporting has been made. This information has now been corrected in the online pdf and html versions of the manuscript.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Cancer Research UK and Alison Howe for supporting the CRUK Marshall Symposium and Safia Danovi and Laurence Dudley for logistical support. The Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Marshall Symposia were conceived to bring together a small group of world-leading researchers across a range of disciplines to discuss and debate the biggest challenges in cancer research. The meeting series was named in memory of Professor Chris Marshall, a cell signalling pioneer, dedicated mentor and long-time CRUK-funded researcher, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to science.
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Names and affiliations of participants in the Marshall Symposium 2017 (PDF 94 kb)
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Sahai, E., Swanton, C. & and Marshall Symposium. Evolution and cancer medicine — transformative insights. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 14, 709–710 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.121
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.121