These Theileria-based observations also suggest that in some cases the propensity of human leukaemia patients to develop life-threatening cancer could be due to the inherent genetic predisposition of their tumours to produce high levels of TGF-b2, rather than TGF-b1, and the genetic programme this initiates on promoting an additional amoeboid-like invasive phenotype of their tumours. The gene discussed is TGFB2; the disease is neoplasm.