{"entity":{"id":"kcna4","kind":"target","name":"KCNA4","aka":["potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily A member 4","Potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily A member 4","Kv1.4","HK1","HPCN2","PCN2","KCNA4L"],"tldr":"KCNA4 (Potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily A member 4) is a gene. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, and an approved or late-stage drug is recorded against it.","summary":"Voltage-gated potassium channel that mediates transmembrane potassium transport in excitable membranes. Forms tetrameric potassium-selective channels through which potassium ions pass in accordance with their electrochemical gradient. The channel alternates between opened and closed conformations in response to the voltage difference across the membrane.\n\nOpen Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.51 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.19, genetic association 0.24, clinical 0.76).","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:6222","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:6222"},{"label":"UniProt P22459","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P22459/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 3739","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/3739"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000182255","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000182255"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["open-targets"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"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: Open Targets known-drug datatype score 0.76. Evidence tier \"approved-drug\" is the strongest of those signals.","Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts (CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC, UniProt)","editedOn":"2026-09-23"},"symbol":"KCNA4","role":["drug-target"],"evidenceTier":"approved-drug","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:6222","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:6222","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt P22459","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P22459/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000182255","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000182255/associations","note":"association with cancer (MONDO_0004992) 0.51;  (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"distribution":"one-type","specificityNote":"Specificity not established: no corpus medicine is aimed at it and the catalogues give it only the role drug-target; HPA finds the RNA tissue enhanced, which says where the protein sits but not whether the tumour differs from normal tissue. HPA KCNA4: RNA tissue enhanced (adrenal gland 6 nTPM, brain 8 nTPM); no normal tissue stained high; highest cancer staining pancreatic cancer (1 of 11 high). Distribution: no corpus cancer carries a prevalence row, threshold or catalogue link for it; Open Targets associates it with 1 specific cancer type at or above 0.5 (Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome). (No rule of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts fired.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas KCNA4 tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000182255-KCNA4/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000182255 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000182255/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:6222","ensembl":"ENSG00000182255","uniprot":"P22459","entrez":"3739","firstDescribed":1990,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Philipson L.H. et al, Nucleic Acids Res, 1990, \"Sequence of a human fetal skeletal muscle potassium channel cDNA related to RCK4\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2263489/","biology":"Voltage-gated potassium channel that mediates transmembrane potassium transport in excitable membranes. Forms tetrameric potassium-selective channels through which potassium ions pass in accordance with their electrochemical gradient. The channel alternates between opened and closed conformations in response to the voltage difference across the membrane. Can form functional homotetrameric channels and heterotetrameric channels that contain variable proportions of KCNA1, KCNA2, KCNA4, KCNA5, and possibly other family members as well; channel properties depend on the type of alpha subunits that are part of the channel. Channel properties are modulated by cytoplasmic beta subunits that regulate the subcellular location of the alpha subunits and promote rapid inactivation. In vivo, membranes probably contain a mixture of heteromeric potassium channel complexes, making it difficult to assign currents observed in intact tissues to any particular potassium channel family member. Location: Cell membrane; Cell projection, axon (UniProt). Locus 11p14.1 (HGNC).","whereFound":[],"targetClass":"other","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/kcna4/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"open-targets","kind":"collection","name":"Open Targets Platform","route":"/collections/open-targets/"}]}}