# Elongation factor 2 (EEF2)

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/eef2/  
OnCo record `eef2` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

EEF2 is the ribosome's motor for moving along messenger RNA; the CML drug omacetaxine stalls protein production by acting at this step.

## Summary

Eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (EEF2) drives the translocation step of protein synthesis, moving the ribosome one codon along the messenger RNA after each amino acid is added. Omacetaxine mepesuccinate (homoharringtonine) binds the ribosome's A-site and blocks the first elongation steps, so short-lived proteins such as BCR-ABL1 and MCL1 fall quickly; the drug is approved for chronic myeloid leukaemia after two tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-04
- Symbol: EEF2
- Class: enzyme
- Biology: A GTPase of the translation machinery; its activity is switched off by phosphorylation from eEF2 kinase under stress and starvation, one of the ways cells throttle protein synthesis.
- Where found: All nucleated cells (housekeeping translation factor); Highly active in rapidly dividing leukaemia and lymphoma cells

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEF2
- UniProt P13639: EEF2: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P13639/entry
- HGNC:3214 EEF2: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:3214
- ChEMBL target CHEMBL1795108: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chembl/explore/target/CHEMBL1795108

## Connected records

- cancers: [Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML)](https://onco.cc/cancers/cml/)
- drugs: [Omacetaxine mepesuccinate](https://onco.cc/drugs/omacetaxine/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/eef2.json