{"entity":{"id":"fak","kind":"target","name":"FAK (PTK2)","aka":["FAK","FAK1","FADK","focal adhesion kinase","protein tyrosine kinase 2"],"tldr":"FAK is the kinase that tells a cell it is anchored to its surroundings, letting it survive, move and resist drugs. Defactinib, given with the RAF/MEK inhibitor avutometinib, removes that escape route in low-grade serous ovarian cancer; other FAK inhibitors are in trials in meningioma and solid tumours.","summary":"PTK2 (chromosome 8q24.3) encodes focal adhesion kinase 1, a non-receptor tyrosine kinase essential for cell migration, adhesion and spreading, actin reorganisation, the assembly and disassembly of focal adhesions, cell-cycle progression, proliferation and apoptosis; it transduces integrin signals and signals from growth-factor receptors, G protein-coupled receptors, EPHA2, netrin and LDL receptors, and is required for embryonic angiogenesis (UniProt Q05397). In OnCo, FAK is blocked by defactinib in the approved avutometinib-defactinib combination for KRAS-mutant low-grade serous ovarian cancer, where it removes an adhesion-driven escape route from MEK inhibition; by GSK2256098 in meningiomas that have lost the NF2 tumour suppressor merlin and depend on FAK (a synthetic-lethal approach); and by IN10018 in phase 3.","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:9611","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:9611"},{"label":"UniProt Q05397","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q05397/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 5747","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/5747"}],"tags":["wave5-target"],"related":["kras","mek"],"cancers":["ovarian","low-grade-serous-ovarian-cancer","meningioma","pancreatic","nsclc"],"sections":[],"technologies":["kinase-inhibitors"],"targets":[],"drugs":["avutometinib-defactinib","gsk2256098","in10018"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["invasion-ecm-degradation","resistance-routes-map"],"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":"PTK2","hgnc":"HGNC:9611","ensembl":"ENSG00000169398","uniprot":"Q05397","entrez":"5747","biology":"The corpus records frame FAK as a resistance node rather than a driver: LGSOC cells arrest and regress only when FAK is blocked alongside RAF-MEK, and NF2-deficient meningioma depends on FAK signalling once merlin is lost.","whereFound":["Low-grade serous ovarian cancer (defactinib with avutometinib)","NF2-deficient meningioma (GSK2256098)","NSCLC, pancreatic, ovarian and small-cell lung cancer (IN10018 trials)"],"targetClass":"kinase","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/fak/","neighbours":{"target":[{"id":"kras","kind":"target","name":"KRAS","route":"/targets/kras/"},{"id":"mek","kind":"target","name":"MEK1/2","route":"/targets/mek/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"low-grade-serous-ovarian-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Low-grade serous ovarian cancer","route":"/cancers/low-grade-serous-ovarian-cancer/"},{"id":"meningioma","kind":"cancer","name":"Meningioma","route":"/cancers/meningioma/"},{"id":"nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/nsclc/"},{"id":"ovarian","kind":"cancer","name":"Ovarian cancer","route":"/cancers/ovarian/"},{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"}],"technology":[{"id":"kinase-inhibitors","kind":"technology","name":"Small-molecule kinase inhibitors","route":"/technologies/kinase-inhibitors/"}],"drug":[{"id":"avutometinib-defactinib","kind":"drug","name":"Avutometinib + defactinib","route":"/drugs/avutometinib-defactinib/"},{"id":"gsk2256098","kind":"drug","name":"GSK2256098","route":"/drugs/gsk2256098/"},{"id":"in10018","kind":"drug","name":"IN10018","route":"/drugs/in10018/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"invasion-ecm-degradation","kind":"pathway","name":"Invasion: proteases, adhesion & the invasive front","route":"/pathways/invasion-ecm-degradation/"},{"id":"resistance-routes-map","kind":"pathway","name":"Resistance routes: how a blocked pathway comes back","route":"/pathways/resistance-routes-map/"}]}}