HOXA9 and hereditary elliptocytosis: Similarly, we observed significant upregulation of CDX2 and HOXA (HOXA7, HOXA9, HOXA10, HOX11) gene expression in all 3 subsets of HE, with the highest levels of these HOXA genes observed in the DLL4+CXCR4+ HE subpopulation, while the lowest level of HOXA gene expression was observed in DLL4−CXCR4− non-AHE (Figure 5C).