{"entity":{"id":"mycn","kind":"target","name":"MYCN (N-myc)","aka":["N-myc","NMYC","bHLHe37"],"tldr":"MYCN is a growth-driving gene that some neuroblastomas copy many times over; that amplification is one of the strongest signs the tumour is aggressive and sets the intensity of treatment.","summary":"MYCN encodes the N-myc transcription factor, a paralogue of MYC expressed in the developing neural crest. Amplification (many extra copies, detected by FISH) occurs in about 20 percent of neuroblastomas and places a child in the high-risk group of the INRG and COG classifications whatever the age or stage; it also defines a rare aggressive spinal ependymoma group and is amplified in some medulloblastomas and retinoblastomas. There is no approved MYCN-directed drug; the readout page carries the amplification rule and the risk groups that use it.","asOf":"2026-09-23","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Myc","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:7559","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:7559"},{"label":"UniProt P04198","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P04198/entry"}],"tags":["biomarker-parent"],"related":["mycn-amp"],"cancers":["neuroblastoma","neuroblastoma-high-risk"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["mycn-amplification","gene-amplification","fish"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"symbol":"MYCN","role":["drug-target","oncogene-driver","biomarker"],"evidenceTier":"approved-drug","sources":[],"specificity":"tumour-specific","distribution":"one-type","specificityNote":"Tumour-specific alteration: the catalogues call it an oncogene driver (IntOGen cohort analysis finds it activated more often than chance); what a medicine would aim at or exploit is the altered form or its loss, absent from normal cells; no corpus medicine is aimed at it yet. HPA MYCN: RNA tissue enhanced (brain 6 nTPM, placenta 8 nTPM); no normal tissue stained high. Distribution: 1 cancer family in the corpus carries a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Childhood cancers (all types)); Open Targets associates it with 1 specific cancer type at or above 0.5 (basal cell carcinoma). (Rule 6 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas MYCN tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000134323-MYCN/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000134323 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000134323/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:7559","ensembl":"ENSG00000134323","uniprot":"P04198","entrez":"4613","firstDescribed":1985,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Michitsch R.W. et al, Nucleic Acids Res, 1985, \"Nucleotide sequence of the 3' exon of the human N-myc gene\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2987858/","biology":"N-myc dimerises with MAX and drives proliferation, ribosome biogenesis and metabolic programmes while repressing differentiation; amplified tumours depend on it and are being targeted indirectly through Aurora A, BET and CDK7 inhibitors.","whereFound":["Neuroblastoma (amplified in about 20 percent)","Spinal ependymoma, MYCN-amplified","Medulloblastoma group 3","Retinoblastoma"],"targetClass":"transcription","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/mycn/","neighbours":{"biomarker":[{"id":"mycn-amp","kind":"biomarker","name":"MYCN amplification","route":"/biomarkers/mycn-amp/"},{"id":"nepc-transformation","kind":"biomarker","name":"Treatment-emergent neuroendocrine transformation (recognising it)","route":"/biomarkers/nepc-transformation/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"neuroblastoma-high-risk","kind":"cancer","name":"High-risk neuroblastoma","route":"/cancers/neuroblastoma-high-risk/"},{"id":"neuroblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Neuroblastoma (paediatric)","route":"/cancers/neuroblastoma/"},{"id":"prostate","kind":"cancer","name":"Prostate cancer","route":"/cancers/prostate/"}],"term":[{"id":"fish","kind":"term","name":"FISH / ISH (in situ hybridisation)","route":"/terms/fish/"},{"id":"gene-amplification","kind":"term","name":"Gene amplification and copy-number change","route":"/terms/gene-amplification/"},{"id":"mycn-amplification","kind":"term","name":"MYCN amplification","route":"/terms/mycn-amplification/"}],"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/"}],"collection":[{"id":"civic","kind":"collection","name":"CIViC","route":"/collections/civic/"},{"id":"intogen","kind":"collection","name":"IntOGen","route":"/collections/intogen/"},{"id":"open-targets","kind":"collection","name":"Open Targets Platform","route":"/collections/open-targets/"}]}}