NFE2L2
NFE2L2 (Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) is a protein that switches other genes on and off. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, an oncogene driver, a tumour suppressor and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Lung cancer, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and 5 more.
Overview
Transcription factor that plays a key role in the response to oxidative stress: binds to antioxidant response (ARE) elements present in the promoter region of many cytoprotective genes, such as phase 2 detoxifying enzymes, and promotes their expression, thereby neutralising reactive electrophiles. In normal conditions, ubiquitinated and degraded in the cytoplasm by the BCR(KEAP1) complex. In response to oxidative stress, electrophile metabolites inhibit activity of the BCR(KEAP1) complex, promoting nuclear accumulation of NFE2L2/NRF2, heterodimerisation with one of the small Maf proteins and binding to ARE elements of cytoprotective target genes.
CIViC holds 10 clinical evidence items and 0 assertions across 8 variants, naming Sapanisertib and Platinum Doublet. Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.80 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes clinical 0.14, affected pathway 0.33, literature 1.00, genetic association 0.07, somatic mutation 0.94, animal model 0.53). IntOGen calls it a driver in 18 cohorts (16 activating, 2 loss-of-function), covering Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma, Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma and others.
- Target · the protein and the cell it sits on
- Drug · antibody, small molecule, cell or radioligand
- Effect · signal, damage or kill
In plain words · NFE2L2 (Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) is a protein that switches other genes on and off. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, an oncogene driver, a tumour suppressor and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Lung cancer, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and 5 more.
- 1 · What it is
NFE2L2 (Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) is a protein that switches other genes on and off. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, an oncogene driver, a tumour suppressor and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Lung cancer, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and 5 more.
- 2 · What goes wrong in cancer
Transcription factor that plays a key role in the response to oxidative stress: binds to antioxidant response (ARE) elements present in the promoter region of many cytoprotective genes, such as phase 2 detoxifying enzymes, and promotes their expression, thereby neutralising reactive electrophiles.
- 3 · How drugs use it
No product in this corpus aims at NFE2L2 yet. Transcription factors have no pocket to plug, so drugs either degrade them or block the partner protein they need to dock on DNA.
External identifiers
Sources: HGNC HGNC:7782 (approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)); UniProt Q16236 (protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)); CIViC gene NFE2L2 (10 evidence items, 0 assertions, 8 variants; diseases: Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Lung Non-small Cell Carcinoma, Squamous Cell Carcinoma (GraphQL API, CC0)); Open Targets ENSG00000116044 (association with cancer (MONDO_0004992) 0.80; per-cancer scores at or above 0.5: oesophageal cancer 0.60, hepatocellular carcinoma 0.61, urinary bladder cancer 0.55, ovarian cancer 0.52, endometrial cancer 0.54, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma 0.62 (GraphQL API, CC0)); IntOGen NFE2L2 (driver in 18 cohorts (Act 16, LoF 2); Compendium_Cancer_Genes.tsv release 20240920, CC0 1.0)
Biology
Transcription factor that plays a key role in the response to oxidative stress: binds to antioxidant response (ARE) elements present in the promoter region of many cytoprotective genes, such as phase 2 detoxifying enzymes, and promotes their expression, thereby neutralising reactive electrophiles. In normal conditions, ubiquitinated and degraded in the cytoplasm by the BCR(KEAP1) complex. In response to oxidative stress, electrophile metabolites inhibit activity of the BCR(KEAP1) complex, promoting nuclear accumulation of NFE2L2/NRF2, heterodimerisation with one of the small Maf proteins and binding to ARE elements of cytoprotective target genes. The NFE2L2/NRF2 pathway is also activated in response to selective autophagy: autophagy promotes interaction between KEAP1 and SQSTM1/p62 and subsequent inactivation of the BCR(KEAP1) complex, leading to NFE2L2/NRF2 nuclear accumulation and expression of cytoprotective genes. The NFE2L2/NRF2 pathway is also activated during the unfolded protein response (UPR), contributing to redox homeostasis and cell survival following endoplasmic reticulum stress. May also be involved in the transcriptional activation of genes of the beta-globin cluster by mediating enhancer activity of hypersensitive site 2 of the beta-globin locus control region. Location: Cytoplasm, cytosol; Nucleus (UniProt). Locus 2q31.2 (HGNC).
- Lung cancer: Open Targets association 0.71 with lung cancer (MONDO_0008903)
- Hepatocellular carcinoma: Open Targets association 0.61 with hepatocellular carcinoma (MONDO_0007256); IntOGen driver in 4 cohorts (HCC)
- Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Open Targets association 0.62 with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (MONDO_0010150); IntOGen driver in 2 cohorts (HNSC)
- Bladder & urothelial cancer: Open Targets association 0.55 with urinary bladder cancer (MONDO_0001187); IntOGen driver in 3 cohorts (BLCA)
- Oesophageal cancer: Open Targets association 0.60 with oesophageal cancer (MONDO_0007576); IntOGen driver in 1 cohort (ESCA)
- Endometrial cancer: Open Targets association 0.54 with endometrial cancer (MONDO_0011962); IntOGen driver in 1 cohort (UCEC)
Notes
top- 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: Open Targets known-drug datatype score 0.14; IntOGen calls it an activating (Act) driver in 16 cohorts; IntOGen calls it a loss-of-function (LoF) driver in 2 cohorts; CIViC holds 10 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.
- Diseases the sources name that have no OnCo cancer page yet, so they are not linked: Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
Latest papers
topQuery for this target: (TITLE:"NFE2L2" OR ABSTRACT:"NFE2L2" OR TITLE:"NFE2 like bZIP transcription factor 2" OR ABSTRACT:"NFE2 like bZIP transcription factor 2" OR TITLE:"Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2" OR ABSTRACT:"Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2" OR TITLE:"NRF2" OR ABSTRACT:"NRF2" OR TITLE:"NRF-2" OR ABSTRACT:"NRF-2") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about NFE2L2, not a curated reading list.
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