The EVI-1 gene - its role in pathogenesis of human leukemias

EVI-1 (ecotropic virus integration site-1) was at first identified as an in tegration site of the murine leukemia retrovirus in murine myeloid leukemia s. It is involved in pathogenesis of mouse and human leukemias. EVI-1 expre ssion may be activated by retroviral insertion or is caused by chromosomal translocations. EVI-1 gene is located on human chromosome 3, spans over 100 kb and contains 12 exons with ten coding exons. EVI-1 gene encodes 1051 am ino acids DNA binding protein containing ten zinc finger repeats organized in two domains. The 145 kDa EVI-1 protein is localized in the nucleus. The structure of the EVI-I protein indicates that it functions as a transcripti onal factor of the zinc finger family. The role of this transcription facto r in myeloid cell transformation and the target genes of EVI-1 is still unk nown. Occurence of a few EVI-1 fusion transcripts was shown. The role of th is fusion proteins is still unclear. Mouse and human sequences of the gene show a high degree of homology 91% in nucleotide sequence and 94% in amino acid sequence. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.