Protein / target

Apoptosis regulator Bcl-2

BCL2P10415Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
3
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

DNA-binding transcription factor binding

Primary system

Immune system

Strongest disease association

type 2 diabetes mellitus

Genetic evidence · score 0.77

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

3 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

3 approved · 4 in clinical development

30 linked trials

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function

Suppresses apoptosis in a variety of cell systems including factor-dependent lymphohematopoietic and neural cells (PubMed:1508712, PubMed:8183370). Regulates cell death by controlling the mitochondrial membrane permeability (PubMed:11368354). Appears to function in a feedback loop system with caspases (PubMed:11368354). Inhibits caspase activity either by preventing the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria and/or by binding to the apoptosis-activating factor (APAF-1) (PubMed:11368354). Also acts as an inhibitor of autophagy: interacts with BECN1 and AMBRA1 during non-starvation conditions and inhibits their autophagy function (PubMed:18570871, PubMed:20889974, PubMed:21358617). May attenuate inflammation by impairing NLRP1-inflammasome activation, hence CASP1 activation and IL1B release (PubMed:17418785)

Subcellular location

Mitochondrion outer membraneNucleus membraneEndoplasmic reticulum membraneCytoplasm
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (66)

Gene Ontology

  • CBcl-2 family protein complex
  • Ccytoplasm
  • Ccytosol
  • Cendoplasmic reticulum
  • Cendoplasmic reticulum membrane
  • Cmembrane
  • Cmitochondrial outer membrane
  • Cmitochondrion
  • Cmyelin sheath
  • Cnuclear membrane
  • Cnucleus
  • Cpore complex

239 aa · 26 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

Immune signallingGO · ReactomeApoptosis & cell deathUniProt · GOTranscriptional regulationGO · ReactomeProteolysisGO
View supporting evidence

Immune signalling

  • ·B cell proliferation
  • ·B cell receptor signaling pathway
  • ·humoral immune response
  • ·positive regulation of B cell proliferation

Apoptosis & cell death

  • ·Suppresses apoptosis in a variety of cell systems including factor-dependent lymphohemat…
  • ·apoptotic process
  • ·negative regulation of apoptotic process
  • ·negative regulation of neuron apoptotic process

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·DNA-binding transcription factor binding
  • ·Estrogen-dependent gene expression

Proteolysis

  • ·protease binding
View underlying pathways (8)

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.

BIKBECN1BNIP3BCL2L1NLRP1BECN2TP53PMAIP1NR4A1BCL2L11BCL2

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.

Drugs targeting this protein

2

Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

navitoclax
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Apoptosis regulator Bcl-2 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving neoplasm, myelofibrosis, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 3 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

venetoclax
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Apoptosis regulator Bcl-2 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Direct interaction with this protein · Only this protein recorded as a target

ChEMBL mechanism, action type and target identity. Open Targets clinical status and indications.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.

Strongest genetic associations

Human genetic evidence — the most direct causal link between this target and a disease.

type 2 diabetes mellitus0.77

Genetic · overall 0.49

lymphoid leukemia0.76

Genetic · overall 0.49

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia0.76

Genetic · overall 0.74

prostate carcinoma0.69

Genetic · overall 0.50

lymphoid neoplasm0.55

Genetic · overall 0.46

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.

neoplasm0.84

Clinical · overall 0.60

acute myeloid leukemia0.69

Clinical · overall 0.51

plasma cell myeloma0.63

Clinical · overall 0.50

diffuse large B-cell lymphoma0.19

Clinical · overall 0.55

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

neurodegenerative disease0.54

Pathway

Show all associations
B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia0.74
neoplasm0.60
diffuse large B-cell lymphoma0.55
neurodegenerative disease0.54
acute myeloid leukemia0.51
plasma cell myeloma0.50
prostate carcinoma0.50
type 2 diabetes mellitus0.49
lymphoid leukemia0.49
lymphoid neoplasm0.46

Open Targets ranks 3,255 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.

Known drugs · 7 total

OBLIMERSEN SODIUMPhase 3

melanoma · plasma cell myeloma · B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

NAVITOCLAXApproval

neoplasm · myelofibrosis · B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

OBLIMERSENApproval

neoplasm · melanoma · plasma cell myeloma

APG-2575Phase 3

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia · B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia · acute myeloid leukemia

OBATOCLAX MESYLATEPhase 3

small cell lung carcinoma · Hodgkins lymphoma · myelofibrosis

OBATOCLAXPhase 2

follicular lymphoma · acute myeloid leukemia · small cell lung carcinoma

VENETOCLAXApproval

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia · B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia · B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · LiteraturePR · UniProt UbiquitinationPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Half-life DataPR · Small Molecule BinderOC · Advanced Clinical

Safety liabilities

regulation of transcription factor activityneurotoxicity

Clinical trials

30

Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein.

Show remaining trials (24)

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemiaWell supported
0.96
agreement 0.871.00
Genetic39%Clinical37%Somatic mutation15%Literature8%RNA expression0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.74 · 5 independent evidence families

plasma cell myelomaWell supported
0.89
agreement 0.810.97
Clinical27%Genetic25%Pathway17%Somatic mutation17%Animal model9%Literature5%

Open Targets aggregate 0.50 · 6 independent evidence families

neoplasmWell supported
0.84
agreement 0.750.93
Clinical46%Somatic mutation22%Genetic21%Literature11%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 4 independent evidence families

prostate carcinomaWell supported
0.81
agreement 0.700.92
Genetic62%Somatic mutation27%Literature12%

Open Targets aggregate 0.50 · 3 independent evidence families

type 2 diabetes mellitusWell supported
0.80
agreement 0.660.93
Genetic87%Literature13%

Open Targets aggregate 0.49 · 2 independent evidence families

The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

4

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through 2 drugs that target this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. New publication2024-04-04
    The Differential Effect of Senolytics on SASP Cytokine Secretion and Regulation of EMT by CAFs.

    International journal of molecular sciences · 2024 · 20 citations · Europe PMC · via navitoclax

  2. New publication2023-11-01
    BCL2 Inhibition Reveals a Dendritic Cell-Specific Immune Checkpoint That Controls Tumor Immunosurveillance.

    Cancer discovery · 2023 · 58 citations · Europe PMC · via venetoclax

  3. Safety communication2021-12-10

    Drug Safety Update: Venetoclax (Venclyxto▼): updated recommendations on tumour lysis syndrome (TLS)

    mhra · safety · mhra · via venetoclax

  4. Regulatory approval2016-12-04

    Approval: Venclyxto (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via venetoclax

Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.