PAK2
Overview
PAK2 (p21-activated kinase 2) is a serine/threonine kinase in the PAK family that regulates cytoskeletal dynamics, cell survival, and MAPK signalling. PAK2 has been implicated in melanoma biology, particularly in the context of RAS/MAPK pathway dysregulation.
Alterations observed in the corpus
- Listed among genes with alterations in the acral melanoma (ALM) integrated genomic analysis cohort (34 patients; WGS + RNA-seq + SNP array); observed in the context of BRAF/NRAS wild-type tumors and structural alteration profiling PMID:28373299.
Cancer types (linked)
- ACRM / SKCM: PAK2 alterations reported in the ALM genomic landscape study; the closely related PAK1 had focal copy gains in 15% of patients, with PAK2 noted in the same context PMID:28373299.
Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity
- Co-occurs in the ALM context with PAK1 gains and is found in BRAF/NRAS wild-type tumors PMID:28373299.
Therapeutic relevance
- PAK kinases are proposed as alternate MAPK-pathway targets in BRAF/NRAS wild-type acral melanoma; no clinical data reported in this corpus PMID:28373299.
Open questions
- The specific alteration types (copy gain, mutation, structural variant) for PAK2 in ALM are not individually detailed in this study; PAK1 copy gains are the primary reported finding PMID:28373299.
Sources
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