{"entity":{"id":"protein","kind":"term","name":"Protein","aka":["proteins"],"tldr":"The molecular machines that do almost everything in a cell: receive signals, copy DNA, build structures, digest food. Most cancer drugs work by binding to one specific protein.","summary":"Proteins are chains of amino acids folded into precise three-dimensional shapes; the shape determines what the protein binds and what it does. Genes encode proteins, so a mutation in a gene can change the protein's shape and behaviour, for example locking a kinase permanently 'on'. Drugs are designed to fit into a pocket on a target protein and block or alter its function, and antibodies recognise proteins on the cell surface; immunohistochemistry stains a protein in tissue to see how much of it a tumour makes.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein"}],"tags":[],"related":["gene","enzyme","receptor","kinase","antibody","ihc"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["proteomics"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Biology basics"},"route":"/terms/protein/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"antibody","kind":"term","name":"Antibody","route":"/terms/antibody/"},{"id":"enzyme","kind":"term","name":"Enzyme","route":"/terms/enzyme/"},{"id":"gene","kind":"term","name":"Gene","route":"/terms/gene/"},{"id":"gene-expression","kind":"term","name":"Gene expression","route":"/terms/gene-expression/"},{"id":"ihc","kind":"term","name":"Immunohistochemistry (IHC)","route":"/terms/ihc/"},{"id":"kinase","kind":"term","name":"Kinase","route":"/terms/kinase/"},{"id":"receptor","kind":"term","name":"Receptor","route":"/terms/receptor/"},{"id":"rna","kind":"term","name":"RNA","route":"/terms/rna/"}],"technology":[{"id":"proteomics","kind":"technology","name":"Proteomics & phosphoproteomics","route":"/technologies/proteomics/"}]}}