PRKCQ

Overview

PRKCQ (Protein Kinase C Theta) is a calcium-independent, diacylglycerol-activated serine/threonine kinase expressed predominantly in T cells and skeletal muscle. It is a key mediator of T-cell activation downstream of TCR signaling. In colorectal cancer genomics, PRKCQ was newly nominated as a significantly mutated driver gene within the RAS signaling pathway.

Alterations observed in the corpus

  • Newly nominated as a significantly mutated gene (SMG) in non-hypermutated colorectal carcinoma (488 of 619 cases) in the 619-case WES cohort (NHS/HPFS); classified among RAS-pathway kinase drivers (alongside MAP2K1, MAP2K7). PMID:27149842

Cancer types (linked)

  • COADREAD: PRKCQ is a newly designated CRC driver gene via MutSigCV; classified as a RAS-pathway kinase. Among 90 significantly mutated genes found in 488 non-hypermutated CRCs, 73 were new to CRC including PRKCQ. PMID:27149842

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

  • No specific co-occurrence or mutual exclusivity data reported for PRKCQ in the current corpus.

Therapeutic relevance

  • PRKCQ is a known drug target in autoimmune disease (inhibitors in clinical development for T-cell-mediated conditions); its nomination as a CRC driver raises the possibility of repurposing PRKCQ inhibitors in RAS-pathway-altered colorectal cancer, though no clinical evidence exists in the corpus.

Open questions

  • Whether PRKCQ mutations in CRC activate or inactivate kinase function, and whether PRKCQ cooperates with canonical RAS pathway mutations (e.g., KRAS, BRAF), are not resolved.

Sources

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