Protein / target

Receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB-2

ERBB2P04626Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
18
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activity

Primary system

Nervous system

Strongest disease association

gastric cancer

Genetic literature evidence · score 0.61

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

18 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

18 approved · 30 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

Protein tyrosine kinase that is part of several cell surface receptor complexes, but that apparently needs a coreceptor for ligand binding. Essential component of a neuregulin-receptor complex, although neuregulins do not interact with it alone. GP30 is a potential ligand for this receptor. Regulates outgrowth and stabilization of peripheral microtubules (MTs). Upon ERBB2 activation, the MEMO1-RHOA-DIAPH1 signaling pathway elicits the phosphorylation and thus the inhibition of GSK3B at cell membrane. This prevents the phosphorylation of APC and CLASP2, allowing its association with the cell membrane. In turn, membrane-bound APC allows the localization of MACF1 to the cell membrane, which is required for microtubule capture and stabilization

Subcellular location

Cell membraneCell projection, ruffle membraneEarly endosomeCytoplasm, perinuclear regionNucleusCytoplasm
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (66)

Domains & features

Protein kinase

Gene Ontology

  • Capical plasma membrane
  • Cbasal plasma membrane
  • Cbasolateral plasma membrane
  • Ccytosol
  • Cearly endosome
  • Cendosome membrane
  • CERBB3:ERBB2 complex
  • Cmembrane
  • Cmyelin sheath
  • Cneuromuscular junction
  • Cnucleoplasm
  • Cnucleus

1255 aa · 138 kDa · 6 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Kinase signallingUniProt · GOTranscriptional regulationGO · ReactomeSynaptic signallingGOImmune signallingUniProtCell adhesionGOApoptosis & cell deathGO
View supporting evidence

Kinase signalling

  • ·Protein tyrosine kinase that is part of several cell surface receptor complexes, but tha…
  • ·protein tyrosine kinase activity
  • ·transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activity
  • ·peptidyl-tyrosine phosphorylation

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·DNA-templated transcription
  • ·positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase I
  • ·TFAP2 (AP-2) family regulates transcription of growth factors and their receptors

Synaptic signalling

  • ·postsynaptic membrane
  • ·presynaptic membrane
  • ·neurotransmitter receptor localization to postsynaptic specialization membrane

Immune signalling

  • ·Protein tyrosine kinase that is part of several cell surface receptor complexes, but tha…

Cell adhesion

  • ·positive regulation of cell adhesion

Apoptosis & cell death

  • ·negative regulation of apoptotic process
View underlying pathways (25)

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.

ERBB4GRB7NRG1EGFRERBINGRB2SHC1ERBB3CD44SRCERBB2

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

10

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.

trastuzumab deruxtecan
Narrow target profileApprovedBinding agent

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2 binding agent

Appears in clinical studies involving breast cancer, HER2 positive breast carcinoma, breast neoplasm, neoplasm

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 2 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

tucatinib
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving HER2 positive breast carcinoma, metastasis, breast neoplasm, breast cancer

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

pertuzumab
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving breast cancer, breast carcinoma, cancer, breast neoplasm

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

pyrotinib
Narrow target profilePhase 3Inhibitor

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving breast cancer, non-small cell lung carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 2 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

trastuzumab duocarmazine
Narrow target profileApprovedBinding agent

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2 binding agent

Appears in clinical studies involving neoplasm, breast cancer, endometrial carcinoma, endometrial cancer

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

ertumaxomab
Narrow target profilePhase 2Cross-linking agent

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2 cross-linking agent

Appears in clinical studies involving breast cancer, rectal cancer, gastric cancer

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 2 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

margetuximab
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving HER2 positive breast carcinoma, breast cancer, neoplasm, gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma

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

neratinib
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving neoplasm, breast cancer, non-small cell lung carcinoma, glioblastoma

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

disitamab vedotin
Phase 3Binding agent

Receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB-2 binding agent

Appears in clinical studies involving breast cancer, urothelial carcinoma, gastric adenocarcinoma, gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 16 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

zenocutuzumab
ApprovedInhibitor

ErbB-2/ErbB-3 heterodimer inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving non-small cell lung carcinoma, pancreatic neoplasm, breast cancer, malignant pancreatic neoplasm

Acts on a complex — shared with ERBB3 · 1 of 2 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

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.

gastric cancer0.61

Genetic literature · overall 0.73

neoplasm0.24

Genetic · overall 0.68

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

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

breast cancer0.99

Clinical · overall 0.63

non-small cell lung carcinoma0.98

Clinical · overall 0.78

breast carcinoma0.94

Clinical · overall 0.70

HER2 positive breast carcinoma0.91

Clinical · overall 0.62

cancer0.90

Clinical · overall 0.78

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

gastric adenocarcinoma0.69

Clinical

urinary bladder cancer0.66

Literature

lung adenocarcinoma0.64

Pathway

Show all associations
non-small cell lung carcinoma0.78
cancer0.78
gastric cancer0.73
breast carcinoma0.70
gastric adenocarcinoma0.69
neoplasm0.68
urinary bladder cancer0.66
lung adenocarcinoma0.64
breast cancer0.63
HER2 positive breast carcinoma0.62

Open Targets ranks 1,910 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 · 48 total

MM-111Phase 2

breast cancer · gastric adenocarcinoma · gastric carcinoma

KBP5209Phase 1
LAPATINIB DITOSYLATEApproval

breast cancer · breast neoplasm · breast carcinoma

CANERTINIB DIHYDROCHLORIDEPhase 2

lymphoma · non-small cell lung carcinoma · breast cancer

PERTUZUMABApproval

breast cancer · breast carcinoma · cancer

MASOPROCOLApproval

prostate cancer · neoplasm

DACOMITINIBApproval

non-small cell lung carcinoma · non-small cell lung carcinoma · non-small cell lung carcinoma

ZANIDATAMABApproval

biliary tract neoplasm · neoplasm · cancer

TRASTUZUMAB EMTANSINEApproval

breast cancer · breast carcinoma · breast neoplasm

TUCATINIBApproval

HER2 positive breast carcinoma · metastasis · breast neoplasm

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyAB · Approved DrugAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · Human Protein Atlas locPR · LiteraturePR · Database Ubiquitination

Safety liabilities

heart diseasecardiotoxicitymore sensitive to trastuzamab

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)

RECRUITING · via trastuzumab deruxtecan · NCT04986579

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.

gastric cancerWell supported
0.93
agreement 0.831.00
Clinical40%Genetic31%Somatic mutation20%Literature9%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.73 · 4 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

non-small cell lung carcinomaWell supported
0.91
agreement 0.801.00
Clinical46%Somatic mutation29%Pathway15%Literature9%

Open Targets aggregate 0.78 · 4 independent evidence families

neoplasmWell supported
0.87
agreement 0.780.97
Clinical51%Somatic mutation21%Genetic17%Literature11%

Open Targets aggregate 0.68 · 4 independent evidence families

breast carcinomaWell supported
0.87
agreement 0.770.98
Clinical50%Somatic mutation28%Pathway11%Literature11%

Open Targets aggregate 0.70 · 4 independent evidence families

gastric adenocarcinomaWell supported
0.84
agreement 0.720.96
Clinical53%Somatic mutation37%Literature10%

Open Targets aggregate 0.69 · 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 underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

48

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through 9 drugs that target this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. Trial status changed2026-07-22

    Phase I Study of the Pan-ERBB Inhibitor Neratinib Given in Combination With Everolimus, Palbociclib, or Trametinib in Advanced Cancer Subjects With EGFR Mutation/Amplification, HER2 Mutation/Amplification, or HER3/4 Mutation or KRAS Mutation

    Status changed to Terminated · ClinicalTrials.gov · via neratinib

  2. Trial status changed2026-07-06

    PIKture-01: First-in-Human Study of the PI3KαH1047R Mutant-Selective Inhibitor OKI-219 as Monotherapy in Participants With Advanced Solid Tumors and as Part of Combination Therapy in Participants With Advanced Breast Cancer

    Status changed to Active, not recruiting · ClinicalTrials.gov · via tucatinib

  3. Regulatory approval2026-04-23

    Approval: Poherdy (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via pertuzumab

  4. New publication2025-04-02
    Effective extracellular payload release and immunomodulatory interactions govern the therapeutic effect of trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd).

    Nature communications · 2025 · 61 citations · Europe PMC · via trastuzumab deruxtecan

  5. New publication2025-02-01
    Efficacy of Zenocutuzumab in <i>NRG1</i> Fusion-Positive Cancer.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2025 · 78 citations · Europe PMC · via zenocutuzumab

  6. New publication2025-01-17
    Tucatinib and trastuzumab in HER2-mutated metastatic breast cancer: a phase 2 basket trial.

    Nature medicine · 2025 · 14 citations · Europe PMC · via tucatinib

  7. New publication2024-12-26
    MOUNTAINEER-03 phase III study design: first-line mFOLFOX6 + tucatinib + trastuzumab for HER2+ metastatic colorectal cancer.

    Future oncology (London, England) · 2025 · 8 citations · Europe PMC · via tucatinib

  8. New publication2024-12-01
    Trastuzumab Deruxtecan with Nivolumab in HER2-Expressing Metastatic Breast or Urothelial Cancer: Analysis of the Phase Ib DS8201-A-U105 Study.

    Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2024 · 31 citations · Europe PMC · via trastuzumab deruxtecan

  9. New publication2024-09-13
    Trastuzumab deruxtecan in HER2-positive advanced breast cancer with or without brain metastases: a phase 3b/4 trial.

    Nature medicine · 2024 · 142 citations · Europe PMC · via trastuzumab deruxtecan

  10. New publication2024-08-01
    FDA approval summary: fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki for unresectable or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with activating HER2 mutations.

    The oncologist · 2024 · 19 citations · Europe PMC · via trastuzumab deruxtecan

  11. New publication2024-06-02
    Trastuzumab deruxtecan versus trastuzumab emtansine in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: long-term survival analysis of the DESTINY-Breast03 trial.

    Nature medicine · 2024 · 108 citations · Europe PMC · via trastuzumab deruxtecan

  12. New publication2024-04-24
    Trastuzumab deruxtecan versus trastuzumab emtansine in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients with brain metastases from the randomized DESTINY-Breast03 trial.

    ESMO open · 2024 · 50 citations · Europe PMC · via trastuzumab deruxtecan

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.