Figure 4. Clonal, phyletic and seeding patterns of four cancer types.

(a) Schematic describing the four metastatic seeding patterns. met: metastasis. (b) Schematic depicting how metastases can get seeded by either one or multiple clones and the definitions of genetic clonality and site clonality. When a site is seeded by multiple clones, this can be a result of multiple clones traveling in a cluster to the same anatomical site, or because of two clones traveling one after the other to the same site. Colors represent genetically distinct cancer cell populations. (c) Schematic depicting the definitions of monophyletic and polyphletic seeding. Monophyletic indicates that the colonizing clone closest to the root can reach every other colonizing clone on the clone tree. Colors represent genetically distinct cancer cell populations. Distribution of (d) seeding patterns, (e) genetic clonality, (f) site clonality and (g) phyleticity for each dataset, as inferred by Metient’s top migration history. (h) Radar plot showing the unique Pareto-optimal metrics for migration histories inferred by Metient for HR-NB patient H103207. (i) Radar plot showing the unique Pareto-optimal metrics for migration histories inferred by Metient for NSCLC patient CRUK290. (j) Comparing across datasets the percent of migrations that are polyclonal for the top Metient solution. Statistical significance assessed by a Welch’s t-test. Error bars are the standard error for each dataset. (k) Comparing across datasets the percent of metastatic sites that seed for the top Metient solution. Statistical significance assessed by a Welch’s t-test. Error bars are the standard error for each dataset.