Access

Research Highlights

Nature Reviews Cancer 8, 164–165 (1 March 2008) | doi:10.1038/nrc2333

Leukaemia: Lessons from an ancestor

Simone Alves

The theory that cancer cells form a hierarchy in which a tumour is maintained by a sub-population of cells with stem-like properties has generated a lot of interest, but little is known about the early mutations that have an effect in cancer, and the precancerous cells in which they occur. Tariq Enver's group investigated precancerous cells in a set of twins of whom only one developed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).