Molecular characterisation of epithelial subtypes in colorectal cancer

In this thesis, the PDS classifier was not only applied to Colorectal Cancer but also other Gastrointestinal cancers (Chapter 4). The application of the PDS classifier to Gastrointestinal cancers offers a framework to unify the classification of these cancers, enabling cross cancer comparisons and the identification of targetable pathways.<br>At the single cell level, the application of the PDS classifier revealed distinct epithelial-specific subpopulations in the Colorectal Cancer epithelial cells which captured subtype specific biologies across individual cells while the heterogeneity within individual tumours was highlighted by the representation of different proportions of PDS classified cells (Chapter 5).<br><br>Overall, this thesis has provided insights into clearer interpretation of the results of gene set enrichment methods.

Additionally, it has provided a comprehensive application of the PDS classifier to Gastrointestinal cancers, providing opportunities to characterise various disease types. Finally, it was demonstrated that the PDS classifier can capture the PDS phenotypes at the single cell level, providing a wider use of the classifier originally developed in bulk Colorectal Cancer tumours.<br><br>Thesis is embargo until 31 July 2028.