{"entity":{"id":"bax","kind":"target","name":"BAX","aka":["BCL2L4","BCL2 associated X, apoptosis regulator"],"tldr":"BAX is the protein that opens the mitochondria to start cell death. BCL-2 keeps it in check in leukaemia cells; venetoclax and sonrotoclax free it, so the mitochondria leak cytochrome c and the cell dies.","summary":"BAX (chromosome 19q13.33) acts in the mitochondrial apoptotic process: under normal conditions it is kept largely cytosolic by constant retrotranslocation from the mitochondria mediated by BCL-XL, which prevents toxic BAX accumulating at the outer membrane; under stress it changes conformation, translocates to the mitochondrial membrane, releases cytochrome c and promotes caspase-3 activation and apoptosis (UniProt Q07812). The intrinsic apoptosis pathway record describes BAX and BAK as the proteins that pull the self-destruct switch open while BCL-2 holds it shut. In OnCo, BAX and BIM are the pro-apoptotic proteins released when venetoclax or sonrotoclax occupy the BH3 groove of BCL-2, which permeabilises the mitochondrial outer membrane and kills CLL and AML cells.","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:959","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:959"},{"label":"UniProt Q07812","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q07812/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 581","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/581"}],"tags":["wave5-target"],"related":["venetoclax","sonrotoclax","bcl2","bim"],"cancers":["cll","aml","dlbcl"],"sections":[],"technologies":["bcl2-inhibitors"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["apoptosis-bcl2"],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Prevalence not recorded in this wave: HGNC and UniProt carry no positivity rates and no other source was consulted."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"OnCo content wave 5 (HGNC REST, UniProt REST, corpus drug and pathway records)","editedOn":"2026-09-22"},"symbol":"BAX","hgnc":"HGNC:959","ensembl":"ENSG00000087088","uniprot":"Q07812","entrez":"581","biology":"BAX activity is restored in the clinic by removing its BCL-2 family restraints rather than by a direct activator; the corpus records no drug that binds BAX.","whereFound":["Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and AML (venetoclax)","Mantle-cell lymphoma and DLBCL (sonrotoclax)"],"targetClass":"other","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/bax/","neighbours":{"drug":[{"id":"sonrotoclax","kind":"drug","name":"Sonrotoclax","route":"/drugs/sonrotoclax/"},{"id":"venetoclax","kind":"drug","name":"Venetoclax","route":"/drugs/venetoclax/"}],"target":[{"id":"bcl2","kind":"target","name":"BCL-2","route":"/targets/bcl2/"},{"id":"bim","kind":"target","name":"BIM (BCL2L11)","route":"/targets/bim/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"aml","kind":"cancer","name":"Acute myeloid leukaemia","route":"/cancers/aml/"},{"id":"cll","kind":"cancer","name":"Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia","route":"/cancers/cll/"},{"id":"dlbcl","kind":"cancer","name":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","route":"/cancers/dlbcl/"}],"technology":[{"id":"bcl2-inhibitors","kind":"technology","name":"BCL-2 inhibitors","route":"/technologies/bcl2-inhibitors/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"apoptosis-bcl2","kind":"pathway","name":"Intrinsic apoptosis (BCL-2 family)","route":"/pathways/apoptosis-bcl2/"}]}}