Polyclonal interactions overcome fitness barriers in Apc-driven intestinal tumorigenesis

Loss-of-function mutations in the tumour suppressor APC are an initial step in intestinal tumorigenesis. APC-mutant intestinal stem cells (ISCs) outcompete their wild type neighbours through the secretion of Wnt antagonists, accelerating the fixation and subsequent rapid clonal expansion of mutants. Reports of polyclonal intestinal tumours in patients and mouse models appear at odds with this process. Here we combine multicolour lineage tracing with chemical mutagenesis in mice to show that a large proportion of intestinal tumours have a multiancestral origin. Polyclonal tumours retain a structure comprising subclones with distinct Apc mutations and transcriptional states, driven predominantly by differences in KRAS and MYC signalling. These pathway level changes are accompanied by profound cancer stem cell phenotypic differences. Importantly, these findings are confirmed by introducing an oncogenic Kras mutation that results in predominantly monoclonal tumour formation. Further, polyclonal tumours have accelerated growth dynamics suggesting a link between polyclonality and tumour progression. Together, these findings demonstrate the role of interclonal interactions in promoting tumorigenesis through non-cell autonomous pathways dependent on the differential activation of oncogenic pathways between clones.