Together, we found in these AML and MDS patients 24 deregulated NKL homeobox genes, including BARHL1, BARX1, DLX1, DLX2, DLX3, DLX4, DLX6, EMX1, EMX2, HHEX, HLX, HMX1, HMX2, MSX1, MSX2, NANOG, NKX1-1, NKX2-3, NKX2-5, NKX3-1, NKX3-2, NKX6-3, VAX2 and VENTX. The gene discussed is VAX2; the disease is acute myeloid leukemia.