# HOXA9

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/hoxa9/  
OnCo record `hoxa9` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

HOXA9 is an embryonic growth gene that some leukaemias keep switched on so their cells never mature. Menin inhibitors such as revumenib and ziftomenib do not touch HOXA9 itself; they pull menin off the DNA so the gene switches off and the cells grow up.

## Summary

HOXA9 (chromosome 7p15.2) is a sequence-specific homeobox transcription factor of the anterior-posterior patterning system that also induces E-selectin and VCAM1 on inflamed endothelium and increases EIF4E-mediated mRNA export and the translation of ODC mRNA (UniProt P31269). The menin-KMT2A pathway record explains its place in leukaemia: KMT2A fusions (infant ALL, about 10% of adult AML) and mutant NPM1 (about 30% of adult AML) are tethered to chromatin through menin and keep HOXA9 and MEIS1 transcribed, holding the cell in a stem-like state. In OnCo, revumenib and ziftomenib occupy the KMT2A-binding pocket of menin, evict the complex, HOXA9 and MEIS1 transcription falls within days and blasts differentiate into mature myeloid cells, with differentiation syndrome as the class toxicity.

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Also known as: HOX1G; HOX1; homeobox A9
- Tags: wave5-target
- Symbol: HOXA9
- Class: transcription
- Biology: HOXA9 is not directly druggable in the corpus; the menin inhibitors act on the scaffold that keeps it expressed, and MEIS1 is its cofactor in the same programme (UniProt O00470).
- Where found: KMT2A-rearranged acute leukaemia (infant ALL; adult and therapy-related AML); NPM1-mutant AML

## Notes

- Prevalence not recorded in this wave: HGNC and UniProt carry no positivity rates and no other source was consulted.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:5109: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:5109
- UniProt P31269: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P31269/entry
- NCBI Gene 3205: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/3205

## Connected records

- drugs: [Revumenib](https://onco.cc/drugs/revumenib/), [Ziftomenib](https://onco.cc/drugs/ziftomenib/)
- targets: [KMT2A (MLL) rearrangement](https://onco.cc/targets/kmt2a/), [MEIS1](https://onco.cc/targets/meis1/), [Menin](https://onco.cc/targets/menin/), [NPM1 mutation](https://onco.cc/targets/npm1/)
- cancers: [Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-leukemia/), [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/), [Infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (KMT2A-rearranged, under one year)](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-infant/), [NPM1-mutated and KMT2A-rearranged acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml-npm1-kmt2a/)
- technologies: [Menin inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/menin-inhibitors/)
- pathways: [Acute myeloid leukaemia (KEGG map)](https://onco.cc/pathways/aml-signalling/), [Epigenetic reprogramming](https://onco.cc/pathways/epigenetic-reprogramming/), [Menin / KMT2A (HOXA9-MEIS1 axis)](https://onco.cc/pathways/menin-kmt2a/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/hoxa9.json