Oncogenesis by E2A-PBX1 in ALL: RUNX and more

The mechanisms by which fusion transcription factors stimulate cancer pathogenesis are being elucidated with increasingly powerful molecular techniques. In this issue of Blood, Pi et al(1) performed a genome-wide identification of the targets of the E2A-PBX1 fusion protein associated with t(1;19), found in 4% of cases of childhood B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).