{"entity":{"id":"mapk9","kind":"target","name":"MAPK9","aka":["mitogen-activated protein kinase 9","Mitogen-activated protein kinase 9","JNK2","p54a","PRKM9"],"tldr":"MAPK9 (Mitogen-activated protein kinase 9) 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 clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response.","summary":"Serine/threonine-protein kinase involved in various processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, transformation and programmed cell death. Extracellular stimuli such as pro-inflammatory cytokines or physical stress stimulate the stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (SAP/JNK) signalling pathway. In this cascade, two dual specificity kinases MAP2K4/MKK4 and MAP2K7/MKK7 phosphorylate and activate MAPK9/JNK2.\n\nOpen Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.57 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes clinical 0.06, affected pathway 0.89, literature 0.89, genetic association 0.00, animal model 0.34).","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:6886","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:6886"},{"label":"UniProt P45984","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P45984/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 5601","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/5601"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000050748","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000050748"}],"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 0.06. Evidence tier \"clinical-evidence\" 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":"MAPK9","role":["drug-target"],"evidenceTier":"clinical-evidence","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:6886","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:6886","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt P45984","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P45984/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000050748","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000050748/associations","note":"association with cancer (MONDO_0004992) 0.57;  (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"specificity":"broadly-expressed","distribution":"not-established","specificityNote":"Broadly expressed or essential: HPA finds the RNA at low tissue specificity; a medicine acting on the wild-type protein would expose normal tissue too. HPA MAPK9: RNA low tissue specificity; blood lineage lineage enriched (granulocytes 16 nTPM); high antibody staining in 23 normal tissues; highest cancer staining liver cancer (3 of 12 high). Distribution: no corpus cancer carries a prevalence row, threshold or catalogue link for it; 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 MAPK9 tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000050748-MAPK9/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000050748 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000050748/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:6886","ensembl":"ENSG00000050748","uniprot":"P45984","entrez":"5601","firstDescribed":1994,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Sluss H.K. et al, Mol. Cell. Biol, 1994, \"Signal transduction by tumor necrosis factor mediated by JNK protein kinases\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7969172/","biology":"Serine/threonine-protein kinase involved in various processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, transformation and programmed cell death. Extracellular stimuli such as pro-inflammatory cytokines or physical stress stimulate the stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (SAP/JNK) signalling pathway. In this cascade, two dual specificity kinases MAP2K4/MKK4 and MAP2K7/MKK7 phosphorylate and activate MAPK9/JNK2. In turn, MAPK9/JNK2 phosphorylates a number of transcription factors, primarily components of AP-1 such as JUN and ATF2 and thus regulates AP-1 transcriptional activity. In response to oxidative or ribotoxic stresses, inhibits rRNA synthesis by phosphorylating and inactivating the RNA polymerase 1-specific transcription initiation factor RRN3. Promotes stressed cell apoptosis by phosphorylating key regulatory factors including TP53 and YAP1. Location: Cytoplasm; Nucleus (UniProt). Locus 5q35.3 (HGNC).","whereFound":[],"targetClass":"kinase","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/mapk9/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"open-targets","kind":"collection","name":"Open Targets Platform","route":"/collections/open-targets/"}]}}