Under Pressure: When a Transformed Environment Pushes Cells to Malignancy

Mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSPCs) have recently gained attention as key elements that contribute to different stages of oncogenesis, from predisposition to disease manifestation and evolution. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell , Zambetti et al. (2016) propose a mechanism by which mutated MSPCs transform hematopoietic cells into a malignant-prone state.