Nuclear Export Gone Rogue: XPO1’s Chromatin Side Hustle Fuels Leukemia

Summary: Exportin-1 (XPO1/CRM1) is a validated target in hematologic malignancies best studied for its role in mediating nuclear export. In this issue of Blood Cancer Discovery, Barajas and colleagues reveal that UBTF tandem duplications found in acute myeloid leukemia complete a nuclear export sequence that enables a novel UBTF–XPO1 interaction, particularly at chromatin loci critical for leukemogenesis, thus raising the question: Could XPO1 inhibitors find new use in the UBTF-TD acute myeloid leukemia subtype? See related article by Barajas et al., p. XX .