VAV2

Overview

VAV2 is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for RHO-family GTPases, including RAC1 and CDC42, that promotes actin cytoskeletal reorganization, cell migration, and invasion. In esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), VAV2 is one of several upstream RAC1-regulatory GEFs recurrently mutated, converging on RAC1 pathway activation.

Alterations observed in the corpus

• Recurrently mutated in EAC (145-tumor WES cohort); identified as one of several upstream regulators of RAC1 alongside TIAM1, TRIO, ECT2, DOCK2, and ELMO1 PMID:23525077.

Cancer types (linked)

• EAC: Part of a convergently mutated RAC1-GEF regulatory axis in esophageal adenocarcinoma; downstream effector PAK1 is recurrently amplified at 11q13 PMID:23525077.

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

• Co-altered with TIAM1, TRIO, ECT2, DOCK2, and ELMO1 as upstream regulators of RAC1 in EAC PMID:23525077.

Therapeutic relevance

• The convergent RAC1-pathway alteration pattern in EAC implicates RAC1/PAK1 signaling as a candidate therapeutic axis; no VAV2-specific agents are discussed in the corpus PMID:23525077.

Open questions

• Functional validation of VAV2 mutations in EAC invasion models has not been reported in this cohort PMID:23525077.

Sources

• PMID:23525077

This page was processed by crosslinker on 2026-05-09.