{"entity":{"id":"brd4","kind":"target","name":"BRD4","aka":["BET","BET bromodomain proteins (BRD2, BRD3, BRD4, BRDT)","bromodomain containing 4","MCAP","HUNK1"],"tldr":"BRD4 is a reader protein that docks on acetylated DNA packaging and pulls in the machinery that switches growth genes such as MYC on. BET inhibitors such as pelabresib and ZEN-3694 block that docking; in NUT carcinoma the cancer's own driver is a BRD4 fusion.","summary":"BRD4 (chromosome 19p13.12) is a chromatin reader of the BET (bromodomain and extra-terminal) family that binds acetylated histones, stays on chromatin through the cell cycle to preserve epigenetic memory and higher-order chromatin structure, and recruits the P-TEFb elongation complex to promoters and to distal enhancers to drive transcription of signal-inducible genes (UniProt O60885). In OnCo, BET inhibitors include pelabresib (phase 3 in primary myelofibrosis) and ZEN-3694, which binds the bromodomains of BRD2, BRD3 and BRD4 and is being tested in NUT carcinoma, prostate and triple-negative breast cancer; fedratinib carries BRD4 activity alongside JAK2 and FLT3; and NUT carcinoma is driven by a BRD4-NUT fusion, itself a BET protein, that the inhibitors displace from chromatin so the cells differentiate.","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:13575","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:13575"},{"label":"UniProt O60885","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/O60885/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 23476","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/23476"}],"tags":["wave5-target"],"related":["myc","jak2"],"cancers":["nut-carcinoma","primary-myelofibrosis","prostate","tnbc"],"sections":[],"technologies":["epigenetic-drugs"],"targets":[],"drugs":["pelabresib","zen-3694","fedratinib"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["transcription-addiction","epigenetic-reprogramming","myc"],"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":"BRD4","hgnc":"HGNC:13575","ensembl":"ENSG00000141867","uniprot":"O60885","entrez":"23476","biology":"The ZEN-3694 record describes BET inhibitors as blocking the bromodomain proteins that switch on growth genes such as MYC, with objective but short-lived responses in early NUT carcinoma trials of molibresib and birabresib; the epigenetic-reprogramming pathway record lists BET proteins among the chromatin readers hijacked in cancer.","whereFound":["NUT carcinoma (BRD4-NUT fusion)","Primary myelofibrosis (pelabresib)","Castration-resistant prostate cancer and triple-negative breast cancer (ZEN-3694 trials)"],"targetClass":"transcription","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/brd4/","neighbours":{"pathway":[{"id":"epigenetic-reprogramming","kind":"pathway","name":"Epigenetic reprogramming","route":"/pathways/epigenetic-reprogramming/"},{"id":"myc","kind":"pathway","name":"MYC","route":"/pathways/myc/"},{"id":"transcription-addiction","kind":"pathway","name":"Transcriptional machinery & addiction","route":"/pathways/transcription-addiction/"}],"target":[{"id":"jak2","kind":"target","name":"JAK2","route":"/targets/jak2/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"nut-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"NUT carcinoma (midline carcinoma with NUTM1 rearrangement)","route":"/cancers/nut-carcinoma/"},{"id":"primary-myelofibrosis","kind":"cancer","name":"Primary myelofibrosis","route":"/cancers/primary-myelofibrosis/"},{"id":"prostate","kind":"cancer","name":"Prostate cancer","route":"/cancers/prostate/"},{"id":"tnbc","kind":"cancer","name":"Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)","route":"/cancers/tnbc/"}],"technology":[{"id":"epigenetic-drugs","kind":"technology","name":"Epigenetic drugs (HDAC, DNMT, EZH2, IDH, menin, BET)","route":"/technologies/epigenetic-drugs/"}],"drug":[{"id":"fedratinib","kind":"drug","name":"Fedratinib","route":"/drugs/fedratinib/"},{"id":"pelabresib","kind":"drug","name":"Pelabresib","route":"/drugs/pelabresib/"},{"id":"zen-3694","kind":"drug","name":"ZEN-3694","route":"/drugs/zen-3694/"}]}}