# MEIS1

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/meis1/  
OnCo record `meis1` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

MEIS1 is HOXA9's partner in keeping leukaemia cells immature. The two are switched on together in KMT2A-rearranged and NPM1-mutant leukaemia, and switched off together when a menin inhibitor works.

## Summary

MEIS1 (chromosome 2p14) is a homeobox transcriptional regulator that controls PAX6, activates PF4 in complex with PBX1 or PBX2, is required for haematopoiesis, megakaryocyte lineage development and vascular patterning, and may act as a cofactor for HOXA7 and HOXA9 in the induction of myeloid leukaemias (UniProt O00470). In OnCo it is, with HOXA9, the leukaemia programme downstream of the menin-KMT2A complex that revumenib and ziftomenib silence in KMT2A-rearranged and NPM1-mutant acute leukaemia (ziftomenib mechanism: displacing KMT2A complexes from menin silences HOXA9/MEIS1 and releases the differentiation block).

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Also known as: Meis homeobox 1
- Tags: wave5-target
- Symbol: MEIS1
- Class: transcription
- Biology: Like HOXA9, MEIS1 is a transcription factor without a direct inhibitor in the corpus; its fall after menin inhibition is the mechanism step the revumenib and ziftomenib records describe.
- Where found: KMT2A-rearranged acute leukaemia; NPM1-mutant AML; Haematopoietic stem cells and megakaryocyte lineage (normal function)

## Notes

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

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:7000: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:7000
- UniProt O00470: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/O00470/entry
- NCBI Gene 4211: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/4211

## Connected records

- drugs: [Revumenib](https://onco.cc/drugs/revumenib/), [Ziftomenib](https://onco.cc/drugs/ziftomenib/)
- targets: [HOXA9](https://onco.cc/targets/hoxa9/), [KMT2A (MLL) rearrangement](https://onco.cc/targets/kmt2a/), [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/), [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/), [Menin / KMT2A (HOXA9-MEIS1 axis)](https://onco.cc/pathways/menin-kmt2a/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/meis1.json