diff --git a/client/app/scripts/charts/__tests__/node-layout-test.js b/client/app/scripts/charts/__tests__/nodes-layout-test.js
similarity index 91%
rename from client/app/scripts/charts/__tests__/node-layout-test.js
rename to client/app/scripts/charts/__tests__/nodes-layout-test.js
index 47ac7ab2a..ab21cee23 100644
--- a/client/app/scripts/charts/__tests__/node-layout-test.js
+++ b/client/app/scripts/charts/__tests__/nodes-layout-test.js
@@ -131,6 +131,18 @@ describe('NodesLayout', () => {
       edges: fromJS({
         [edge('n1', 'n4')]: {id: edge('n1', 'n4'), source: 'n1', target: 'n4'}
       })
+    },
+    layoutProps: {
+      nodes: fromJS({
+        n1: {id: 'n1', label: 'lold', labelMinor: 'lmold', rank: 'rold'},
+      }),
+      edges: fromJS({})
+    },
+    layoutProps2: {
+      nodes: fromJS({
+        n1: {id: 'n1', label: 'lnew', labelMinor: 'lmnew', rank: 'rnew', x: 111, y: 109},
+      }),
+      edges: fromJS({})
     }
   };
 
@@ -438,4 +450,29 @@ describe('NodesLayout', () => {
     resultCoords = getNodeCoordinates(result.nodes);
     expect(resultCoords).not.toEqual(coords);
   });
+
+  it('only caches layout-related properties', () => {
+    // populate cache by doing a full layout run, this stores layout values in cache
+    const first = NodesLayout.doLayout(
+      nodeSets.layoutProps.nodes,
+      nodeSets.layoutProps.edges,
+      { noCache: true }
+    );
+
+    // now pass updated nodes with modified values
+    const second = NodesLayout.doLayout(
+      nodeSets.layoutProps2.nodes,
+      nodeSets.layoutProps2.edges,
+      {}
+    );
+
+    // new labels should not be overwritten by cache
+    nodes = second.nodes.toJS();
+    expect(nodes.n1.label).toEqual('lnew');
+    expect(nodes.n1.labelMinor).toEqual('lmnew');
+    // but layout values should be preferred from cache
+    expect(nodes.n1.rank).toEqual('rold');
+    expect(nodes.n1.x).toEqual(first.nodes.getIn(['n1', 'x']));
+    expect(nodes.n1.y).toEqual(first.nodes.getIn(['n1', 'y']));
+  });
 });
diff --git a/client/app/scripts/utils/__tests__/math-utils-test.js b/client/app/scripts/utils/__tests__/math-utils-test.js
index 75697dcfc..70481c039 100644
--- a/client/app/scripts/utils/__tests__/math-utils-test.js
+++ b/client/app/scripts/utils/__tests__/math-utils-test.js
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ describe('MathUtils', () => {
     const entryF = { pointF: { x: 30, y: 0 } };
 
     it('it should return the minimal distance between any two points in the collection', () => {
-      expect(f(fromJS({}))).toBe(0);
-      expect(f(fromJS({...entryA}))).toBe(0);
+      expect(f(fromJS({}))).toBe(Infinity);
+      expect(f(fromJS({...entryA}))).toBe(Infinity);
       expect(f(fromJS({...entryA, ...entryB}))).toBe(30);
       expect(f(fromJS({...entryA, ...entryC}))).toBe(40);
       expect(f(fromJS({...entryB, ...entryC}))).toBe(50);
diff --git a/client/app/scripts/utils/math-utils.js b/client/app/scripts/utils/math-utils.js
index 37ff46a94..7840f4110 100644
--- a/client/app/scripts/utils/math-utils.js
+++ b/client/app/scripts/utils/math-utils.js
@@ -28,14 +28,12 @@ function euclideanDistance(pointA, pointB) {
 // This could be solved in O(N log N) (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closest_pair_of_points_problem),
 // but this brute-force O(N^2) should be good enough for a reasonable number of nodes.
 export function minEuclideanDistanceBetweenPoints(points) {
-  let minDistance = 0;
-  let foundPair = false;
+  let minDistance = Infinity;
   points.forEach((pointA, idA) => {
     points.forEach((pointB, idB) => {
       const distance = euclideanDistance(pointA, pointB);
-      if (idA !== idB && (distance < minDistance || !foundPair)) {
+      if (idA !== idB && distance < minDistance) {
         minDistance = distance;
-        foundPair = true;
       }
     });
   });