Cancer evolves over time, but capturing these dynamics has long been a challenge. EVOFLUx is a new method that uses natural DNA methylation “barcodes” to track how tumors grow and change—requiring only a single bulk methylation profile. Applied to nearly 2,000 lymphoid cancer samples, EVOFLUx revealed that tumor growth rates, malignancy age, and mutation rates differ dramatically across diseases. The method uncovered rare cases of multiple primary tumors and showed that faster early growth often predicts more aggressive disease. By reconstructing cancer’s evolutionary history, EVOFLUx offers powerful, low-cost insights into tumor behavior and prognosis, paving the way for more precise cancer biology and clinical understanding.
