In focus: MLL-rearranged leukemia

The molecular mechanisms underlying oncogenesis in leukemias associated with rearrangement of the Mixed Lineage Leukemia (MLL) gene have received a considerable amount of attention over the last two decades. In this review we will focus on recent studies, published over the past year, that reveal new insights into the multi-protein complexes formed by MLL and MLL fusion proteins, the role of epigenetic deregulation in MLL fusion function, downstream transcriptional target genes, the importance of the leukemia cell of origin, the role played by microRNAs, cooperating mutations and the implications that recent research has for the therapy of MLL-rearranged leukemia.