{"entity":{"id":"aurka","kind":"target","name":"AURKA","aka":["aurora kinase A","Aurora kinase A","AurA","STK7","ARK1","PPP1R47","STK15","STK6"],"tldr":"AURKA (Aurora kinase A) is a protein kinase, an enzyme that switches other proteins on by adding phosphate groups. The public catalogues list it as a drug target and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Oesophageal cancer, Ovarian cancer and Non-small-cell lung cancer.","summary":"Mitotic serine/threonine kinase that contributes to the regulation of cell cycle progression. Associates with the centrosome and the spindle microtubules during mitosis and plays a critical role in various mitotic events including the establishment of mitotic spindle, centrosome duplication, centrosome separation as well as maturation, chromosomal alignment, spindle assembly checkpoint, and cytokinesis. Required for normal spindle positioning during mitosis and for the localisation of NUMA1 and DCTN1 to the cell cortex during metaphase.\n\nCIViC holds 7 clinical evidence items and 0 assertions across 3 variants, naming Cisplatin, Alisertib, Paclitaxel and Platinum Compound and others.","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:11393","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:11393"},{"label":"UniProt O14965","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/O14965/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 6790","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/6790"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000087586","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000087586"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["civic"],"cancers":["esophageal","ovarian","nsclc","prostate"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["myc"],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-beltran-nepc-aurka-mycn-cancer-discov-2011"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"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 lists 6 therapies; CIViC holds 7 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: Cervical Adenocarcinoma."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts (CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC, UniProt)","editedOn":"2026-09-23"},"symbol":"AURKA","role":["drug-target","biomarker"],"evidenceTier":"clinical-evidence","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:11393","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:11393","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt O14965","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/O14965/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"CIViC gene AURKA","url":"https://civicdb.org/features/61","note":"7 evidence items, 0 assertions, 3 variants; diseases: Oesophagus Adenocarcinoma, Lung Non-small Cell Carcinoma, Ovarian Carcinoma, Ovarian Serous Carcinoma, Oesophagus Squamous Cell Carcinoma and 1 more (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"specificity":"broadly-expressed","distribution":"few-types","specificityNote":"Broadly expressed or essential: HPA lists AURKA among essential proteins; a medicine acting on the wild-type protein would expose normal tissue too. HPA AURKA: RNA tissue enhanced (lymphoid tissue 21 nTPM, testis 29 nTPM); no normal tissue stained high; highest cancer staining colorectal cancer (2 of 12 high). Distribution: 3 cancer families in the corpus carry a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Oesophageal cancer, Ovarian cancer, Lung cancer (all types)); Open Targets associates it with 0 specific cancer types at or above 0.5. (Rule 7 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas AURKA tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000087586-AURKA/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000087586 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000087586/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:11393","ensembl":"ENSG00000087586","uniprot":"O14965","entrez":"6790","firstDescribed":1997,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Kimura et al, J. Biol. Chem, 1997, \"Cell cycle-dependent expression and spindle pole localization of a novel human protein kinase, Aik, related to Aurora of Drosophila and yeast Ipl1\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9153231/","biology":"Mitotic serine/threonine kinase that contributes to the regulation of cell cycle progression. Associates with the centrosome and the spindle microtubules during mitosis and plays a critical role in various mitotic events including the establishment of mitotic spindle, centrosome duplication, centrosome separation as well as maturation, chromosomal alignment, spindle assembly checkpoint, and cytokinesis. Required for normal spindle positioning during mitosis and for the localisation of NUMA1 and DCTN1 to the cell cortex during metaphase. Required for initial activation of CDK1 at centrosomes. Phosphorylates numerous target proteins, including ARHGEF2, BORA, BRCA1, CDC25B, DLGP5, HDAC6, KIF2A, LATS2, NDEL1, PARD3, PPP1R2, PLK1, RASSF1, TACC3, p53/TP53 and TPX2. Phosphorylates MCRS1 which is required for MCRS1-mediated kinetochore fibre assembly and mitotic progression. Location: Cytoplasm, cytoskeleton, microtubule organizing center, centrosome; Cytoplasm, cytoskeleton, spindle pole; Cytoplasm, cytoskeleton, microtubule organizing center, centrosome, centriole; Cell projection, neuron projection (UniProt). Locus 20q13.2 (HGNC).","whereFound":["Oesophageal cancer: CIViC evidence names this disease","Ovarian cancer: CIViC evidence names this disease","Non-small-cell lung cancer: CIViC evidence names this disease","Prostate cancer: co-amplification, enriched in neuroendocrine disease 0.1-4% depending on disease state"],"targetClass":"kinase","prevalence":[{"cancerId":"prostate","pct":"0.1-4","measure":"Co-amplification, enriched in neuroendocrine disease","source":"https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-11-0130","note":"Overexpression and gene amplification of AURKA and MYCN were found in 40% of neuroendocrine prostate cancers and 5% of adenocarcinomas in a profiling series of 7 neuroendocrine, 30 adenocarcinoma and 5 benign tissues validated by immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridisation on 37 neuroendocrine, 169 adenocarcinoma and 22 benign samples (Beltran 2011). cBioPortal high-level amplification: AURKA 18 of 444, 4.1%, in prad_su2c_2019 (where 3q and 20q gains inflate the call); 2 of 2,260, 0.1%, in prostate_msk_2024. MYCN amplification 8 of 444, 1.8%, in prad_su2c_2019 and 5 of 2,260, 0.2%, in prostate_msk_2024."}]},"route":"/targets/aurka/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"civic","kind":"collection","name":"CIViC","route":"/collections/civic/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/nsclc/"},{"id":"esophageal","kind":"cancer","name":"Oesophageal cancer","route":"/cancers/esophageal/"},{"id":"ovarian","kind":"cancer","name":"Ovarian cancer","route":"/cancers/ovarian/"},{"id":"prostate","kind":"cancer","name":"Prostate cancer","route":"/cancers/prostate/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"myc","kind":"pathway","name":"MYC","route":"/pathways/myc/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-beltran-nepc-aurka-mycn-cancer-discov-2011","kind":"paper","name":"Molecular characterisation of neuroendocrine prostate cancer and identification of new drug targets","route":"/key-papers/paper-beltran-nepc-aurka-mycn-cancer-discov-2011/"},{"id":"paper-gay-sclc-subtypes-inflamed-cancer-cell-2021","kind":"paper","name":"Patterns of transcription factor programs and immune pathway activation define four major subtypes of SCLC with distinct therapeutic vulnerabilities","route":"/key-papers/paper-gay-sclc-subtypes-inflamed-cancer-cell-2021/"}],"biomarker":[{"id":"nepc-transformation","kind":"biomarker","name":"Treatment-emergent neuroendocrine transformation (recognising it)","route":"/biomarkers/nepc-transformation/"}],"target":[{"id":"ttk","kind":"target","name":"MPS1 (TTK)","route":"/targets/ttk/"}],"term":[{"id":"checkpoint","kind":"term","name":"Checkpoint (two meanings)","route":"/terms/checkpoint/"}]}}