Protein / target
Protein kinase C zeta type
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Diacylglycerol-dependent serine/threonine kinase
Strongest disease association
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute
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
Calcium- and diacylglycerol-independent serine/threonine-protein kinase that functions in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade, and is involved in NF-kappa-B activation, mitogenic signaling, cell proliferation, cell polarity, inflammatory re…
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Calcium- and diacylglycerol-independent serine/threonine-protein kinase that functions in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade, and is involved in NF-kappa-B activation, mitogenic signaling, cell proliferation, cell polarity, inflammatory response and maintenance of long-term potentiation (LTP). Upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment in macrophages, or following mitogenic stimuli, functions downstream of PI3K to activate MAP2K1/MEK1-MAPK1/ERK2 signaling cascade independently of RAF1 activation. Required for insulin-dependent activation of AKT3, but may function as an adapter rather than a direct activator. Upon insulin treatment may act as a downstream effector of PI3K and contribute to the activation of translocation of the glucose transporter SLC2A4/GLUT4 and subsequent glucose transport in adipocytes. In EGF-induced cells, binds and activates MAP2K5/MEK5-MAPK7/ERK5 independently of its kinase activity and can activate JUN promoter through MEF2C. Through binding with SQSTM1/p62, functions in interleukin-1 signaling and activation of NF-kappa-B with the specific adapters RIPK1 and TRAF6. Participates in TNF-dependent transactivation of NF-kappa-B by phosphorylating and activating IKBKB kinase, which in turn leads to the degradation of NF-kappa-B inhibitors. In migrating astrocytes, forms a cytoplasmic complex with PARD6A and is recruited by CDC42 to function in the establishment of cell polarity along with the microtubule motor and dynein. In association with FEZ1, stimulates neuronal differentiation in PC12 cells. In the inflammatory response, is required for the T-helper 2 (Th2) differentiation process, including interleukin production, efficient activation of JAK1 and the subsequent phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of STAT6. May be involved in development of allergic airway inflammation (asthma), a process dependent on Th2 immune response. In the NF-kappa-B-mediated inflammatory response, can relieve SETD6-dependent repression of NF-kappa-B target genes by phosphorylating the RELA subunit at 'Ser-311'. Phosphorylates VAMP2 in vitro (PubMed:17313651). Phosphorylates and activates LRRK1, which phosphorylates RAB proteins involved in intracellular trafficking (PubMed:36040231)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (50)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Capical cortex
- Capical plasma membrane
- Caxon hillock
- Cbicellular tight junction
- Ccell junction
- Ccell-cell junction
- Ccilium
- Ccytoplasm
- Ccytosol
- Cendosome
- Cextracellular exosome
- Cmembrane
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Excitatory neurotransmission
- ·positive regulation of excitatory postsynaptic potential
Kinase signalling
- ·Calcium- and diacylglycerol-independent serine/threonine-protein kinase that functions i…
- ·calcium,diacylglycerol-dependent serine/threonine kinase activity
- ·diacylglycerol-dependent serine/threonine kinase activity
- ·protein kinase activity
Immune signalling
- ·Calcium- and diacylglycerol-independent serine/threonine-protein kinase that functions i…
- ·inflammatory response
- ·positive regulation of interleukin-10 production
- ·positive regulation of interleukin-13 production
Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.
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.
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.
Protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor
Indicated for Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute, Mastocytosis, Mastocytosis, Systemic, Neoplasms
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 PRKCZ
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene PRKCZ that 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 (4)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
5 compounds recorded · 1 approved · 4 in clinical development
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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 (6)Hide
Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.
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 a drug that targets 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.
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Rydapt (EMA)
- New publicationEfficacy and safety of midostaurin in patients with advanced systemic mastocytosis: 10-year median follow-up of a phase II trial.
- New publicationEfficacy and Safety of Midostaurin in Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis.
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.