[Transcription factor RUNX1]

Transcription factor RUNX1 is one of the key regulatory proteins in vertebrates. It controls hematopoiesis and angiogenesis. It is indispensable during embryogenesis for the emergence of sites of definitive hematopoiesis and later in mature organisms for bone marrow blood stem cells differentiation. Moreover, RUNX1 gene is a frequent target for chromosomal translocations which cause acute forms of leukemia. A lot of types of human leukemia are somehow associated with mutations in this gene. Nevertheless, to this day the precise mechanism guiding the tissue-specific manner of the RUNX1 gene expression remains unknown. In this review we tried to summarize all the experimental data accumulated during the past twenty years beginning from the date when the cDNA sequence of the RUNX1 gene was first annotated. In the first part of the review we shall focus on structure, isoforms, covalent modifications of the RUNX1 transcription factor and its participation in different regulatory cascades. In the second part we shall discuss expression regulation, mutations and chromosomal translocations of the RUNX1 gene.