# POLK

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

## TL;DR

POLK (DNA polymerase kappa) is an enzyme. The public catalogues list it as a DNA repair gene, and the evidence so far is association rather than a proven role. Tied to Prostate cancer.

## Summary

DNA polymerase specifically involved in DNA repair. Plays an important role in translesion synthesis, where the normal high-fidelity DNA polymerases cannot proceed and DNA synthesis stalls. Depending on the context, it inserts the correct base, but causes frequent base transitions, transversions and frameshifts.

Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.58 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.85, genetic association 0.00, somatic mutation 0.91).

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: DNA polymerase kappa; DINB1
- Tags: cancer-genes-wave
- Symbol: POLK
- Class: enzyme
- Biology: DNA polymerase specifically involved in DNA repair. Plays an important role in translesion synthesis, where the normal high-fidelity DNA polymerases cannot proceed and DNA synthesis stalls. Depending on the context, it inserts the correct base, but causes frequent base transitions, transversions and frameshifts. Lacks 3'-5' proofreading exonuclease activity. Forms a Schiff base with 5'-deoxyribose phosphate at abasic sites, but does not have lyase activity. Location: Nucleus (UniProt). Locus 5q13.3 (HGNC).
- Where found: Prostate cancer: Open Targets association 0.56 with prostate cancer (MONDO_0008315)

## Notes

- Written by scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts from CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC and UniProt; the function text is UniProt's, condensed and in UK spelling. Roles: UniProt keyword "DNA repair". Evidence tier "association-only" is the strongest of those signals.
- Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:9183: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:9183
- UniProt Q9UBT6: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q9UBT6/entry
- NCBI Gene 51426: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/51426
- Ensembl ENSG00000122008: https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000122008

## Connected records

- collections: [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)
- cancers: [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- pathways: [DNA damage response & homologous recombination](https://onco.cc/pathways/ddr/), [Double-strand break repair: HR versus end joining](https://onco.cc/pathways/homologous-recombination-repair/), [Synthetic lethality: paired dependencies](https://onco.cc/pathways/synthetic-lethality-map/)

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