Protein / target
Tyrosine-protein kinase ABL1
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Non-membrane spanning protein tyrosine kinase
Strongest disease association
chronic myelogenous leukemia, BCR-ABL1 positive
Therapeutic position
Established drug target
Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.
Protein profile
Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.
Function overview
Non-receptor tyrosine-protein kinase that plays a role in many key processes linked to cell growth and survival such as cytoskeleton remodeling in response to extracellular stimuli, cell motility and adhesion, receptor endocytosis, autophagy, DNA damage response and apoptosis.
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Non-receptor tyrosine-protein kinase that plays a role in many key processes linked to cell growth and survival such as cytoskeleton remodeling in response to extracellular stimuli, cell motility and adhesion, receptor endocytosis, autophagy, DNA damage response and apoptosis. Coordinates actin remodeling through tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins controlling cytoskeleton dynamics like WASF3 (involved in branch formation); ANXA1 (involved in membrane anchoring); DBN1, DBNL, CTTN, RAPH1 and ENAH (involved in signaling); or MAPT and PXN (microtubule-binding proteins). Phosphorylation of WASF3 is critical for the stimulation of lamellipodia formation and cell migration. Involved in the regulation of cell adhesion and motility through phosphorylation of key regulators of these processes such as BCAR1, CRK, CRKL, DOK1, EFS or NEDD9 (PubMed:22810897). Phosphorylates multiple receptor tyrosine kinases and more particularly promotes endocytosis of EGFR, facilitates the formation of neuromuscular synapses through MUSK, inhibits PDGFRB-mediated chemotaxis and modulates the endocytosis of activated B-cell receptor complexes. Other substrates which are involved in endocytosis regulation are the caveolin (CAV1) and RIN1. Moreover, ABL1 regulates the CBL family of ubiquitin ligases that drive receptor down-regulation and actin remodeling. Phosphorylation of CBL leads to increased EGFR stability. Involved in late-stage autophagy by regulating positively the trafficking and function of lysosomal components. ABL1 targets to mitochondria in response to oxidative stress and thereby mediates mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death. In response to oxidative stress, phosphorylates serine/threonine kinase PRKD2 at 'Tyr-717' (PubMed:28428613). ABL1 is also translocated in the nucleus where it has DNA-binding activity and is involved in DNA-damage response and apoptosis. Many substrates are known mediators of DNA repair: DDB1, DDB2, ERCC3, ERCC6, RAD9A, RAD51, RAD52 or WRN. Activates the proapoptotic pathway when the DNA damage is too severe to be repaired. Phosphorylates TP73, a primary regulator for this type of damage-induced apoptosis. Phosphorylates the caspase CASP9 on 'Tyr-153' and regulates its processing in the apoptotic response to DNA damage. Phosphorylates PSMA7 that leads to an inhibition of proteasomal activity and cell cycle transition blocks. ABL1 also acts as a regulator of multiple pathological signaling cascades during infection. Several known tyrosine-phosphorylated microbial proteins have been identified as ABL1 substrates. This is the case of A36R of Vaccinia virus, Tir (translocated intimin receptor) of pathogenic E.coli and possibly Citrobacter, CagA (cytotoxin-associated gene A) of H.pylori, or AnkA (ankyrin repeat-containing protein A) of A.phagocytophilum. Pathogens can highjack ABL1 kinase signaling to reorganize the host actin cytoskeleton for multiple purposes, like facilitating intracellular movement and host cell exit. Finally, functions as its own regulator through autocatalytic activity as well as through phosphorylation of its inhibitor, ABI1. Regulates T-cell differentiation in a TBX21-dependent manner (By similarity). Positively regulates chemokine-mediated T-cell migration, polarization, and homing to lymph nodes and immune-challenged tissues, potentially via activation of NEDD9/HEF1 and RAP1 (By similarity). Phosphorylates TBX21 on tyrosine residues leading to an enhancement of its transcriptional activator activity (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (119)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Cactin cytoskeleton
- Ccytoplasm
- Ccytosol
- Cdendrite
- Cglutamatergic synapse
- Cgrowth cone
- Cmitochondrion
- Cneuronal cell body
- Cnuclear body
- Cnuclear membrane
- Cnucleolus
- Cnucleoplasm
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Synaptic signalling
- ·Non-receptor tyrosine-protein kinase that plays a role in many key processes linked to c…
- ·glutamatergic synapse
- ·postsynapse
- ·postsynaptic density
Cell migration
- ·Non-receptor tyrosine-protein kinase that plays a role in many key processes linked to c…
- ·endothelial cell migration
- ·positive regulation of cell migration involved in sprouting angiogenesis
- ·positive regulation of endothelial cell migration
Receptor tyrosine kinase signalling
- ·Non-receptor tyrosine-protein kinase that plays a role in many key processes linked to c…
Growth-factor signalling
- ·epidermal growth factor receptor signaling pathway
Cell-cycle regulation
- ·mitotic cell cycle
Transcriptional regulation
- ·Non-receptor tyrosine-protein kinase that plays a role in many key processes linked to c…
- ·transcription coactivator activity
- ·positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II
- ·regulation of DNA-templated transcription
View underlying pathways (13)Hide underlying pathways
Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.
Interaction neighbourhood
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.
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.
Approved medicines with mapped indications
Approved therapies targeting this protein, grouped by what they are approved to treat — the disease-first view of the medicines below. Relationships come from the canonical approved-indication graph (ChEMBL phase-4), the same source as the drug cards.
Broader indication categories (1)Hide
Broad umbrella indications (e.g. “Neoplasms”). Shown here because every medicine also appears under a more specific disease above — kept for completeness, de-emphasised for clarity.
15 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 3 shown here are those on this page with a canonical approved disease indication in the graph. Approved indications from ChEMBL (phase-4), via the canonical drug→disease graph.
Drugs targeting this protein
How approved and investigational drugs engage this protein — mechanism and action type, direct vs complex targeting, and how broadly each acts across other targets. A drug-first view (the section above groups the approved ones disease-first); direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.
Tyrosine-protein kinase ABL inhibitor
Indicated for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors, Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive, Myelodysplastic-Myeloproliferative Diseases, Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma
Tyrosine-protein kinase ABL inhibitor
Indicated for Colorectal Neoplasms, Neoplasms
Tyrosine-protein kinase ABL inhibitor
Bcr/Abl fusion protein inhibitor
Indicated for Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive, Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma
ChEMBL mechanism, action type, target identity and approved indications. Open Targets clinical status.
Translational evidence
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 ABL1
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene ABL1that 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.
View evidence synthesis (5)Hide
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.
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Drug development
27 compounds recorded · 15 approved · 12 in clinical development
View all recorded compounds (10)Hide
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 molecules — Strong
Antibodies — Emerging
Protein degraders — Emerging
View underlying tractability evidence (10)Hide
Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.
Safety-related annotations
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.
Clinical trials
Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein. Ranked by active status, then clinical phase and recency, and spread across the targeting drugs.
View all trials (26)Hide
ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.
What's happening now
Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 4 drugs that target this protein, plus publications where such a drug is a genuine subject. Every item is reached indirectly through the drug, not the protein itself; incidental mentions (a paper that merely measures a drug) and press items are excluded.
- Label change
Label change: IMATINIB MESYLATE (NDA021588)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: BOSUTINIB (ANDA209624)
- Label change
Label change: IMATINIB MESYLATE (NDA021588)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: BOSUTINIB (ANDA209543)
- Label change
Label change: IMATINIB (ANDA204644)
- New publicationLenvatinib Plus Pembrolizumab Versus Standard of Care for Previously Treated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Final Analysis of the Randomized, Open-Label, Phase III LEAP-017 Study.
- New publicationThe Differential Effect of Senolytics on SASP Cytokine Secretion and Regulation of EMT by CAFs.
- Supplemental approval
Supplemental approval: IMATINIB MESYLATE (NDA021588)
- New publicationKIT mutations and expression: current knowledge and new insights for overcoming IM resistance in GIST.
- New publicationGenomic profiling in GIST: Implications in clinical outcome and future challenges.
- Label change
Label change: IMATINIB (ANDA204644)
- Label change
Label change: IMATINIB (ANDA204644)
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.