# Protein

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

## TL;DR

The molecular machines that do almost everything in a cell: receive signals, copy DNA, build structures, digest food. Most cancer drugs work by binding to one specific protein.

## Summary

Proteins are chains of amino acids folded into precise three-dimensional shapes; the shape determines what the protein binds and what it does. Genes encode proteins, so a mutation in a gene can change the protein's shape and behaviour, for example locking a kinase permanently 'on'. Drugs are designed to fit into a pocket on a target protein and block or alter its function, and antibodies recognise proteins on the cell surface; immunohistochemistry stains a protein in tissue to see how much of it a tumour makes.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: proteins

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein

## Connected records

- terms: [Antibody](https://onco.cc/terms/antibody/), [Enzyme](https://onco.cc/terms/enzyme/), [Gene](https://onco.cc/terms/gene/), [Gene expression](https://onco.cc/terms/gene-expression/), [Immunohistochemistry (IHC)](https://onco.cc/terms/ihc/), [Kinase](https://onco.cc/terms/kinase/), [Receptor](https://onco.cc/terms/receptor/), [RNA](https://onco.cc/terms/rna/)
- technologies: [Proteomics & phosphoproteomics](https://onco.cc/technologies/proteomics/)

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