{"entity":{"id":"kinase","kind":"term","name":"Kinase","aka":["kinases","tyrosine kinase","tyrosine kinases","protein kinase","protein kinases","kinase domain","tyrosine kinase inhibitor","tyrosine kinase inhibitors","TKI","TKIs"],"tldr":"An enzyme that switches other proteins on by sticking a phosphate group onto them. Cancer signalling runs on kinases, and kinase inhibitors are the biggest class of targeted drugs.","summary":"The human genome encodes about 500 kinases; a large share sit in growth pathways, including the inner part of receptors like EGFR and HER2 and the relay proteins BRAF, MEK, ALK, CDK4/6 and PI3K. A mutated kinase that stays permanently active is one of the commonest cancer drivers, and because kinases share a pocket that binds ATP (the phosphate donor), small molecules designed to occupy that pocket can shut them off. Imatinib against BCR-ABL in 2001 proved the idea; dozens of kinase inhibitors now exist, and successive generations are engineered to overcome the resistance mutations that arise in the pocket.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinase","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinase"}],"tags":[],"related":["phosphorylation","enzyme","inhibitor","receptor","signalling-pathway","oncogene-addiction","resistance"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["kinase-inhibitors","cdk46-inhibitor"],"targets":["egfr","alk","braf","cdk4-6"],"drugs":["imatinib","osimertinib","lorlatinib"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Biology basics"},"route":"/terms/kinase/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"cell-cycle","kind":"term","name":"Cell cycle","route":"/terms/cell-cycle/"},{"id":"downstream","kind":"term","name":"Downstream and upstream","route":"/terms/downstream/"},{"id":"resistance","kind":"term","name":"Drug resistance (primary and acquired)","route":"/terms/resistance/"},{"id":"enzyme","kind":"term","name":"Enzyme","route":"/terms/enzyme/"},{"id":"growth-signal","kind":"term","name":"Growth signal","route":"/terms/growth-signal/"},{"id":"inhibitor","kind":"term","name":"Inhibitor","route":"/terms/inhibitor/"},{"id":"oncogene","kind":"term","name":"Oncogene","route":"/terms/oncogene/"},{"id":"oncogene-addiction","kind":"term","name":"Oncogene addiction","route":"/terms/oncogene-addiction/"},{"id":"phosphorylation","kind":"term","name":"Phosphorylation","route":"/terms/phosphorylation/"},{"id":"protein","kind":"term","name":"Protein","route":"/terms/protein/"},{"id":"receptor","kind":"term","name":"Receptor","route":"/terms/receptor/"},{"id":"signalling-pathway","kind":"term","name":"Signalling pathway","route":"/terms/signalling-pathway/"},{"id":"targeted-therapy-term","kind":"term","name":"Targeted therapy","route":"/terms/targeted-therapy-term/"}],"technology":[{"id":"cdk46-inhibitor","kind":"technology","name":"CDK4/6 inhibitors","route":"/technologies/cdk46-inhibitor/"},{"id":"kinase-inhibitors","kind":"technology","name":"Small-molecule kinase inhibitors","route":"/technologies/kinase-inhibitors/"}],"target":[{"id":"alk","kind":"target","name":"ALK","route":"/targets/alk/"},{"id":"braf","kind":"target","name":"BRAF","route":"/targets/braf/"},{"id":"cdk4-6","kind":"target","name":"CDK4/6","route":"/targets/cdk4-6/"},{"id":"egfr","kind":"target","name":"EGFR","route":"/targets/egfr/"}],"drug":[{"id":"imatinib","kind":"drug","name":"Imatinib","route":"/drugs/imatinib/"},{"id":"lorlatinib","kind":"drug","name":"Lorlatinib","route":"/drugs/lorlatinib/"},{"id":"osimertinib","kind":"drug","name":"Osimertinib","route":"/drugs/osimertinib/"}]}}