Blood cancer driven by ‘one hit’ mutation event undergoes rapid growth

Reconstructions of the ‘evolutionary’ relationships among blood-cell clones from individuals with the blood cancer chronic myeloid leukaemia reveal that the cancer clone grows exceptionally quickly, reaching rates of between 10,000% and 1,000,000% per year. This variability in growth rate could explain differences in responses to cancer treatments. Variability in the growth rate of chronic myeloid leukaemia could contribute to differences in treatment response among patients.