Tracking nongenetic evolution from primary to metastatic ccRCC: TRACERx Renal

While the key aspects of genetic evolution and their clinical implications in clear cell renal-cell carcinoma (ccRCC) are well-documented, how genetic features co-evolve with the phenotype and tumour microenvironment (TME) remains elusive. Here, through joint genomic-transcriptomic analysis of 243 samples from 79 patients recruited to the TRACERx Renal study, the group identify pervasive non-genetic intratumour heterogeneity, with over 40% not attributable to genetic alterations. By integrating tumour transcriptomes and phylogenetic structures, they observe convergent evolution to specific phenotypic traits, including cell proliferation, metabolic reprogramming and overexpression of putative cGAS-STING repressors amid high aneuploidy. The team also uncovered a co-evolution between the tumour and the T cell repertoire, as well as a longitudinal shift in the TME from an anti-tumour to an immunosuppressive state, linked to the acquisition of recurrently late ccRCC drivers 9p loss and SETD2 mutations. This study reveals clinically-relevant and hitherto underappreciated non-genetic evolution patterns in ccRCC.