Because an increase in cell death as disease progressed was observed only for LKS CD150−CD48−/low cells (ST-HSCs), our data led us to propose a model where cells of the haematopoietic system are ousted from the BM by the infiltrating leukaemia irrespectively of proliferative behaviour or phenotypic characteristics, with the exception of LKS CD150+CD48−/low cells with the lowest level of CD48 expression, which proved relatively resistant to removal. Here, CD48 is linked to leukemia.