EVI-1: Proteins and Enzymes

Ectopic virus integration site 1 (EVI-1), also known as MECOM, is a 145 kDa is a transcriptional regulator that interacts with GATA2 and histone methyltransferases. EVI-1 contains 7 tandem N-terminal zinc finger regions (aa 21-239), a central region, and a cluster of 3 more zinc fingers (aa 733-812). Longer isoforms have 189 aa or 64 aa N-terminal extensions. EVI-1 target genes are critical to hematopoietic stem cell proliferation and myeloid differentiation. EVI-1 is overexpressed in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) as well as ovarian cancer. Chromosomal translocations fuse EVI-1 with RUNX1 and RPN1 contribute to chromosomal instability, myeloid leukemia proliferation, and a block in myeloid differentiation.