# REL

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

## TL;DR

REL (Proto-oncogene c-Rel) is a protein that switches other genes on and off. The public catalogues list it as a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Ovarian cancer and Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

## Summary

Proto-oncogene that may play a role in differentiation and lymphopoiesis. NF-kappa-B is a pleiotropic transcription factor which is present in almost all cell types and is involved in many biological processed such as inflammation, immunity, differentiation, cell growth, tumorigenesis and apoptosis. NF-kappa-B is a homo- or heterodimeric complex formed by the Rel-like domain-containing proteins RELA/p65, RELB, NFKB1/p105, NFKB1/p50, REL and NFKB2/p52.

CIViC holds 1 clinical evidence item and 0 assertions across 2 variants. Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.61 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.80, animal model 0.51, genetic association 0.00, somatic mutation 0.96).

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: REL proto-oncogene, NF-kB subunit; Proto-oncogene c-Rel; I-Rel; c-Rel; HIVEN86A
- Tags: cancer-genes-wave
- Symbol: REL
- Class: transcription
- Biology: Proto-oncogene that may play a role in differentiation and lymphopoiesis. NF-kappa-B is a pleiotropic transcription factor which is present in almost all cell types and is involved in many biological processed such as inflammation, immunity, differentiation, cell growth, tumorigenesis and apoptosis. NF-kappa-B is a homo- or heterodimeric complex formed by the Rel-like domain-containing proteins RELA/p65, RELB, NFKB1/p105, NFKB1/p50, REL and NFKB2/p52. The dimers bind at kappa-B sites in the DNA of their target genes and the individual dimers have distinct preferences for different kappa-B sites that they can bind with distinguishable affinity and specificity. Different dimer combinations act as transcriptional activators or repressors, respectively. NF-kappa-B is controlled by various mechanisms of post-translational modification and subcellular compartmentalisation as well as by interactions with other cofactors or corepressors. Location: Nucleus (UniProt). Locus 2p16.1 (HGNC).
- Where found: Ovarian cancer: Open Targets association 0.50 with ovarian cancer (MONDO_0008170); Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: CIViC evidence names this disease

## 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: CIViC holds 1 clinical evidence items on its variants. Evidence tier "clinical-evidence" is the strongest of those signals.
- Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:9954: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:9954
- UniProt Q04864: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q04864/entry
- NCBI Gene 5966: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/5966
- Ensembl ENSG00000162924: https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000162924

## Connected records

- collections: [CIViC](https://onco.cc/collections/civic/), [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)
- cancers: [Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/dlbcl/), [Ovarian cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/ovarian/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/rel.json