Back to discover

Protein / target

Cyclin-dependent kinase 2

Encoded byCDK2P24941Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinical-stage
Therapeutic maturity
14
Clinical candidates
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Advanced Clinical
1
Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Cyclin-dependent protein serine/threonine kinase

Strongest disease association

Neurodegenerative Diseases

Via encoding gene CDK2 · Pathway evidence · score 0.37

Therapeutic position

Clinically advancing target

Small molecules

Research activity

Emerging research

1 papers · latest 2024

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 overview

Serine/threonine-protein kinase involved in the control of the cell cycle; essential for meiosis, but dispensable for mitosis.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Serine/threonine-protein kinase involved in the control of the cell cycle; essential for meiosis, but dispensable for mitosis (PubMed:10499802, PubMed:10884347, PubMed:10995386, PubMed:10995387, PubMed:11051553, PubMed:11113184, PubMed:12944431, PubMed:15800615, PubMed:17495531, PubMed:19966300, PubMed:20935635, PubMed:21262353, PubMed:21596315, PubMed:28216226, PubMed:28666995). Phosphorylates CABLES1, CTNNB1, CDK2AP2, ERCC6, NBN, USP37, p53/TP53, NPM1, CDK7, RB1, BRCA2, MYC, NPAT, SUV39H1, EZH2 (PubMed:10499802, PubMed:10995386, PubMed:10995387, PubMed:11051553, PubMed:11113184, PubMed:12944431, PubMed:15800615, PubMed:19966300, PubMed:20935635, PubMed:21262353, PubMed:21596315, PubMed:24728993, PubMed:28216226). Triggers duplication of centrosomes and DNA (PubMed:11051553). Acts at the G1-S transition to promote the E2F transcriptional program and the initiation of DNA synthesis, and modulates G2 progression; controls the timing of entry into mitosis/meiosis by controlling the subsequent activation of cyclin B/CDK1 by phosphorylation, and coordinates the activation of cyclin B/CDK1 at the centrosome and in the nucleus (PubMed:18372919, PubMed:19238148, PubMed:19561645). Crucial role in orchestrating a fine balance between cellular proliferation, cell death, and DNA repair in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) (PubMed:18372919, PubMed:19238148, PubMed:19561645). Activated by the CDK-activating kinase (CAK) complex consisting of CDK7, cyclin-H/CCNH and MAT1, which is a master regulator of CDK activity (PubMed:41100585). Activity of CDK2 is maximal during S phase and G2; activated by interaction with cyclin E during the early stages of DNA synthesis to permit G1-S transition, and subsequently activated by cyclin A2 (cyclin A1 in germ cells) during the late stages of DNA replication to drive the transition from S phase to mitosis, the G2 phase (PubMed:18372919, PubMed:19238148, PubMed:19561645). EZH2 phosphorylation promotes H3K27me3 maintenance and epigenetic gene silencing (PubMed:20935635). Cyclin E/CDK2 prevents oxidative stress-mediated Ras-induced senescence by phosphorylating MYC (PubMed:19966300). Involved in G1-S phase DNA damage checkpoint that prevents cells with damaged DNA from initiating mitosis; regulates homologous recombination-dependent repair by phosphorylating BRCA2, this phosphorylation is low in S phase when recombination is active, but increases as cells progress towards mitosis (PubMed:15800615, PubMed:20195506, PubMed:21319273). In response to DNA damage, double-strand break repair by homologous recombination a reduction of CDK2-mediated BRCA2 phosphorylation (PubMed:15800615). Involved in regulation of telomere repair by mediating phosphorylation of NBN (PubMed:28216226). Phosphorylation of RB1 disturbs its interaction with E2F1 (PubMed:10499802). NPM1 phosphorylation by cyclin E/CDK2 promotes its dissociates from unduplicated centrosomes, thus initiating centrosome duplication (PubMed:11051553). Cyclin E/CDK2-mediated phosphorylation of NPAT at G1-S transition and until prophase stimulates the NPAT-mediated activation of histone gene transcription during S phase (PubMed:10995386, PubMed:10995387). Required for vitamin D-mediated growth inhibition by being itself inactivated (PubMed:20147522). Involved in the nitric oxide- (NO) mediated signaling in a nitrosylation/activation-dependent manner (PubMed:20079829). USP37 is activated by phosphorylation and thus triggers G1-S transition (PubMed:21596315). CTNNB1 phosphorylation regulates insulin internalization (PubMed:21262353). Phosphorylates FOXP3 and negatively regulates its transcriptional activity and protein stability (By similarity). Phosphorylates ERCC6 which is essential for its chromatin remodeling activity at DNA double-strand breaks (PubMed:29203878). Acts as a regulator of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B signal transduction by mediating phosphorylation of the C-terminus of protein kinase B (PKB/AKT1 and PKB/AKT2), promoting its activation (PubMed:24670654)

Subcellular location

Cytoplasm, cytoskeleton, microtubule organizing center, centrosomeNucleus, Cajal bodyCytoplasmEndosome
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (53)

Domains & features

Protein kinase

Gene Ontology

  • CCajal body
  • Ccentrosome
  • Cchromosome, telomeric region
  • Cciliary basal body
  • Ccondensed chromosome
  • Ccyclin A1-CDK2 complex
  • Ccyclin A2-CDK2 complex
  • Ccyclin E1-CDK2 complex
  • Ccyclin E2-CDK2 complex
  • Ccyclin-dependent protein kinase holoenzyme complex
  • Ccytoplasm
  • Ccytosol

298 aa · 34 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

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

Cell-cycle regulationGOCell proliferation & survivalGOKinase signallingUniProt · GOTranscriptional regulationUniProt · GO
View supporting evidence

Cell-cycle regulation

  • ·G1/S transition of mitotic cell cycle
  • ·G2/M transition of mitotic cell cycle
  • ·regulation of mitotic cell cycle

Cell proliferation & survival

  • ·positive regulation of cell population proliferation

Kinase signalling

  • ·Serine/threonine-protein kinase involved in the control of the cell cycle; essential for…
  • ·cyclin-dependent protein kinase holoenzyme complex
  • ·cyclin-dependent protein kinase activity
  • ·cyclin-dependent protein serine/threonine kinase activity

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·Serine/threonine-protein kinase involved in the control of the cell cycle; essential for…
  • ·transcription regulator complex

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

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.

Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene CDK2

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene CDK2that encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.

Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell
0.45Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.36

Alzheimer's Disease
0.28Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.36 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Neurodegenerative Diseases
0.25Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Breast Neoplasms
0.24Preliminary

Literature evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.14

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular
0.24Preliminary

Literature evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.13

View evidence synthesis (5)
Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-CellLimited support
0.45
agreement 0.300.61
Clinical91%Literature9%

Open Targets aggregate 0.36 · 2 independent evidence families

Alzheimer's DiseasePreliminary
0.28
agreement 0.100.45
Pathway80%Literature20%

Open Targets aggregate 0.36 · 2 independent evidence families · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Neurodegenerative DiseasesPreliminary
0.25
agreement 0.070.43
Pathway97%Literature3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 2 independent evidence families · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Breast NeoplasmsPreliminary
0.24
agreement 0.090.40
Literature54%Clinical46%

Open Targets aggregate 0.14 · 2 independent evidence families

Carcinoma, HepatocellularPreliminary
0.24
agreement 0.100.37
Literature52%Clinical47%RNA expression1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.13 · 3 independent evidence families

This ranking differs from Open Targets' own: re-weighting moves genetically-evidenced diseases above more heavily co-mentioned ones. 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 per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations
Neurodegenerative Diseases0.37
Alzheimer's Disease0.36
Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell0.36
Autoimmune disorder of central nervous system0.35
Parkinson's Disease0.35
Multiple Sclerosis0.35
Lysosomal Storage Diseases0.35
Breast Neoplasms0.14
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute0.13
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular0.13

Drug development

14 compounds recorded · 14 in clinical development

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines.

View all recorded compounds (10)
ZOTIRACICLIBPhase 1 2
AZD-5438Phase 1
SELICICLIBPhase 2
BMS-387032Phase 1
UCN-01Phase 2
PHA-793887Phase 1
AG-24322Phase 1
RG-547Phase 1
DINACICLIBPhase 3
MILCICLIBPhase 2

Open Targets known-drugs universe. Drug name and highest clinical stage only — the disease relationship is NOT read from this slice (it carries trial-context noise); approved indications come from the canonical graph above.

Tractability

Small moleculesStrong

Advanced Clinical and Structure with Ligand support this modality.

Protein degradersEmerging

Feasibility evidence (literature and database ubiquitination) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (8)
SM · Advanced ClinicalSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyPR · LiteraturePR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

regulation of catalytic activityToxCastheart diseaseForce et al. (2011)cardiomyocyte hyperproliferationUrban et al. (2012)

Terms indexed against this target in Open Targets' safety data, with their datasource. These are annotations, not causal claims: the direction of effect (whether activation or inhibition is implicated), species and evidence strength are not captured here, so an entry does not mean that modulating this target is known to cause that condition.

Research activity

1 papers · to 2024

Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.

Most cited

Recent

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.

Related family literature

5

Papers about “Cyclin-Dependent Kinases” — a broader family this protein belongs to. Shown as context; not counted as papers specifically about this protein.

Evaluating Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancers with Deleterious CDK12 Alterations in the Phase 2 IMPACT Trial.

Nguyen CB · Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2024

via Cyclin-Dependent Kinases

Survival with Olaparib in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.

Hussain M · The New England journal of medicine · 2020

via Cyclin-Dependent Kinases

Malignant glioma: genetics and biology of a grave matter.

Maher EA · Genes & development · 2001

via Cyclin-Dependent Kinases

Europe PMC literature, reached through curated HGNC family membership. Membership is a taxonomic relationship — it does not imply this protein participates in every mechanism these papers discuss.