Solid cancers are caricatures of normal tissues, and as such represent complex cellular ‘ecosystems’ in which tumour aetiology and response to treatment is a product of the cellular milieu. Our understanding of the cellular and molecular heterogeneity of human solid cancers is poorly developed, hampered by technical and conceptual limitations. In particular, the historical absence of sophisticated multi-modal scalable methods and appropriate tissue collections to study cancer ecosystems has led to a shallow understanding of complex biology and has limited the development of next generation anti-cancer drugs.
New technologies, including single cell sequencing and high-dimensionality tissue analysis, are enabling new insights into cancer ecosystems, leading to advances in the stratification and treatment of solid cancers.