Protein / target

Tyrosine-protein kinase receptor UFO

AXLP30530Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
2
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

acute myeloid leukemia

Literature evidence · score 0.60

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

2 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

2 approved · 5 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

Receptor tyrosine kinase that transduces signals from the extracellular matrix into the cytoplasm by binding growth factor GAS6 and which is thus regulating many physiological processes including cell survival, cell proliferation, migration and differentiation. Ligand binding at the cell surface induces dimerization and autophosphorylation of AXL. Following activation by ligand, AXL binds and induces tyrosine phosphorylation of PI3-kinase subunits PIK3R1, PIK3R2 and PIK3R3; but also GRB2, PLCG1, LCK and PTPN11. Other downstream substrate candidates for AXL are CBL, NCK2, SOCS1 and TNS2. Recruitment of GRB2 and phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase regulatory subunits by AXL leads to the downstream activation of the AKT kinase. GAS6/AXL signaling plays a role in various processes such as endothelial cell survival during acidification by preventing apoptosis, optimal cytokine signaling during human natural killer cell development, hepatic regeneration, gonadotropin-releasing hormone neuron survival and migration, platelet activation, or regulation of thrombotic responses. Also plays an important role in inhibition of Toll-like receptors (TLRs)-mediated innate immune response

Subcellular location

Cell membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (37)

Domains & features

Ig-like C2-type 1Ig-like C2-type 2Fibronectin type-III 1Fibronectin type-III 2Protein kinase

Gene Ontology

  • Ccell surface
  • Cextracellular exosome
  • Cextracellular space
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Creceptor complex
  • FATP binding
  • Fphosphatidylserine binding
  • Fprotein tyrosine kinase activity
  • Ftransmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activity
  • Fvirus receptor activity
  • Pcell maturation
  • Pcell migration

894 aa · 98 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Kinase signallingUniProt · GOImmune signallingUniProt · GOHaemostasisUniProt · GOApoptosis & cell deathGOCell adhesionUniProt
View supporting evidence

Kinase signalling

  • ·Receptor tyrosine kinase that transduces signals from the extracellular matrix into the…
  • ·protein tyrosine kinase activity
  • ·transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activity
  • ·positive regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B signal transduction

Immune signalling

  • ·Receptor tyrosine kinase that transduces signals from the extracellular matrix into the…
  • ·innate immune response
  • ·positive regulation of cytokine-mediated signaling pathway
  • ·symbiont entry into host cell

Haemostasis

  • ·Receptor tyrosine kinase that transduces signals from the extracellular matrix into the…
  • ·platelet activation

Apoptosis & cell death

  • ·negative regulation of apoptotic process
  • ·negative regulation of dendritic cell apoptotic process

Cell adhesion

  • ·Receptor tyrosine kinase that transduces signals from the extracellular matrix into the…
View underlying pathways (2)

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.

GAS6PROS1SRCSHC1PLCG1GRB2GAB1IFNAR1PLCG2JAK2AXL

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

1

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.

gilteritinib
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Tyrosine-protein kinase receptor UFO inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving acute myeloid leukemia by FAB classification, acute myeloid leukemia, neoplasm, acute myeloid leukemia

Direct interaction with this protein · 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.

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

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

acute myeloid leukemia0.93

Clinical · overall 0.60

myeloid leukemia0.65

Clinical · overall 0.40

acute myeloid leukemia by FAB classification0.63

Clinical · overall 0.38

neoplasm0.63

Clinical · overall 0.41

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

neurodegenerative disease0.57

Pathway

Alzheimer disease0.54

Pathway

multiple sclerosis0.53

Pathway

Parkinson disease0.53

Pathway

lysosomal storage disease0.53

Pathway

Show all associations
acute myeloid leukemia0.60
neurodegenerative disease0.57
Alzheimer disease0.54
multiple sclerosis0.53
Parkinson disease0.53
lysosomal storage disease0.53
dengue disease0.50
neoplasm0.41
myeloid leukemia0.40
acute myeloid leukemia by FAB classification0.38

Open Targets ranks 627 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

BEMCENTINIBPhase 3

head and neck squamous cell carcinoma · myelodysplastic syndrome · non-small cell lung carcinoma

NINGETINIBPhase 2

non-small cell lung carcinoma · renal cell adenocarcinoma · acute myeloid leukemia

BPI-9016Phase 1

neoplasm · non-small cell lung carcinoma

MECBOTAMAB VEDOTINPhase 2

ovarian cancer · soft tissue sarcoma · non-small cell lung carcinoma

ENAPOTAMAB VEDOTINPhase 1 2
GILTERITINIBApproval

acute myeloid leukemia by FAB classification · acute myeloid leukemia · neoplasm

GILTERITINIB FUMARATEApproval

acute myeloid leukemia · myeloid leukemia

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · Human Protein Atlas locPR · UniProt UbiquitinationPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule BinderOC · Advanced Clinical

Safety liabilities

coronary artery disease

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 gilteritinib · NCT03013998

RECRUITING · via gilteritinib · NCT06225427

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.

acute myeloid leukemiaModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.590.90
Clinical83%Literature17%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

neoplasmModerately supported
0.55
agreement 0.400.71
Clinical76%Literature24%

Open Targets aggregate 0.41 · 2 independent evidence families

myeloid leukemiaLimited support
0.50
agreement 0.340.65
Clinical97%Literature3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.40 · 2 independent evidence families

acute myeloid leukemia by FAB classificationLimited support
0.47
agreement 0.310.64
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.38 · 1 independent evidence family

neurodegenerative diseasePreliminary
0.38
agreement 0.200.56
Pathway97%Literature3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.57 · 2 independent evidence families · no direct causal or clinical evidence

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

2

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

  1. Regulatory approval2019-10-24

    Approval: Xospata (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via gilteritinib

  2. New publication2019-10-01
    Gilteritinib or Chemotherapy for Relapsed or Refractory <i>FLT3</i>-Mutated AML.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2019 · 966 citations · Europe PMC · via gilteritinib

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.