{"entity":{"id":"vav1","kind":"target","name":"VAV1","aka":["vav guanine nucleotide exchange factor 1","Proto-oncogene vav"],"tldr":"VAV1 (Proto-oncogene vav) is a gene whose normal job is to hold cell growth in check. The public catalogues list it as a tumour suppressor, and it is called a cancer driver by mutation analysis of patient cohorts. Tied to Non-small-cell lung cancer.","summary":"Couples tyrosine kinase signals with the activation of the Rho/Rac GTPases, thus leading to cell differentiation and/or proliferation.\n\nIntOGen calls it a driver in 1 cohort (0 activating, 1 loss-of-function), covering Lung Adenocarcinoma.","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:12657","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:12657"},{"label":"UniProt P15498","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P15498/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 7409","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/7409"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000141968","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000141968"},{"label":"Kataoka et al., Nat Genet 2015: integrated molecular analysis of 426 adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma cases","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3415"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["intogen"],"cancers":["nsclc","non-hodgkin-lymphoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["oncogenic-viruses","inflammation-nfkb"],"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: IntOGen calls it a loss-of-function (LoF) driver in 1 cohort. Evidence tier \"cohort-driver\" is the strongest of those signals.","Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.","Lymphoma, HTLV-1, Tax and HBZ: Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 integrates into the genome of a CD4 T cell and expresses Tax, which switches on NF-kB and interferes with the DNA-damage response and the spindle checkpoint, and HBZ, encoded on the opposite strand, which is retained when Tax expression is switched off under immune pressure. The host genome then acquires the rest of the lesions, and they are not random: the alterations found across 426 cases overlap significantly with the proteins Tax itself binds, and are concentrated in T-cell receptor and NF-kB signalling, T-cell trafficking and immune surveillance, with activating mutations in PLCG1, PRKCB, CARD11, VAV1, IRF4, FYN, CCR4 and CCR7, CTLA4-CD28 and ICOS-CD28 fusions, and intragenic deletions of IKZF2, CARD11 and TP73 (Kataoka 2015). Frequency: Across 426 adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma cases analysed by whole-genome, exome, transcriptome and targeted sequencing with copy-number and methylation arrays (Kataoka 2015). Most people infected with HTLV-1 never develop the disease, and the latency between infection, usually in infancy through breastfeeding, and the leukaemia is measured in decades. What it changes about treatment: The CCR4 finding is the practical one: CCR4 is both frequently expressed and frequently mutated, and mogamulizumab is used in this disease. The virus itself is not a drug target, and antiretroviral treatment does not cure the leukaemia."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts (CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC, UniProt)","editedOn":"2026-09-23"},"symbol":"VAV1","role":["tumour-suppressor"],"evidenceTier":"cohort-driver","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:12657","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:12657","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt P15498","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P15498/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"IntOGen VAV1","url":"https://www.intogen.org/search?gene=VAV1","note":"driver in 1 cohort (Act 0, LoF 1); Compendium_Cancer_Genes.tsv release 20240920, CC0 1.0"}],"specificitySources":[],"hgnc":"HGNC:12657","ensembl":"ENSG00000141968","uniprot":"P15498","entrez":"7409","firstDescribed":1989,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Katzav et al, EMBO J, 1989, \"vav, a novel human oncogene derived from a locus ubiquitously expressed in hematopoietic cells\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2477241/","biology":"Couples tyrosine kinase signals with the activation of the Rho/Rac GTPases, thus leading to cell differentiation and/or proliferation. Locus 19p13.3 (HGNC).","whereFound":["Non-small-cell lung cancer: IntOGen driver in 1 cohort (LUAD)"],"targetClass":"tumor-suppressor","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/vav1/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"intogen","kind":"collection","name":"IntOGen","route":"/collections/intogen/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"non-hodgkin-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types)","route":"/cancers/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/"},{"id":"nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/nsclc/"},{"id":"peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma)","route":"/cancers/peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"inflammation-nfkb","kind":"pathway","name":"Inflammation & NF-κB","route":"/pathways/inflammation-nfkb/"},{"id":"oncogenic-viruses","kind":"pathway","name":"Oncogenic viruses","route":"/pathways/oncogenic-viruses/"}],"term":[{"id":"lymphoma-bio-htlv1","kind":"term","name":"HTLV-1, Tax and HBZ in adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma","route":"/terms/lymphoma-bio-htlv1/"}]}}