A Differentiation-Based Phylogeny of Cancer Subtypes
Figure 5
A phylogeny of sarcoma subtypes.
The figure shows the consensus tree of sarcoma subtypes. We use expression data of 251 sarcoma samples classified into the types shown in Table 3. The tree is rooted with expression data of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). We also include expression data of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) and of fully differentiated normal adipocytes. The differentiation pathway from hESC to fully differentiated adipocytes is indicated in purple, and the pink dots represent the common ancestors of (sets of) subtypes. The boxed numbers specify the bootstrap values of branches. The phylogeny ranks the sarcoma subtypes according to their dissimilarity from stem cells as leiomyosarcoma, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, myxofibrosarcoma, followed by the liposarcoma subtypes dedifferentiated liposarcoma, pleomorphic, myxoid/round-cell, and well-differentiated liposarcoma. Lipoma is identified as the subtype most dissimilar from stem cells.