{"entity":{"id":"epha1","kind":"target","name":"EPHA1","aka":["EPH receptor A1","Ephrin type-A receptor 1","EPHT1"],"tldr":"EPHA1 (Ephrin type-A receptor 1) is a protein kinase, an enzyme that switches other proteins on by adding phosphate groups. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, and an approved or late-stage drug is recorded against it. Tied to Thyroid cancer and Neuroendocrine tumours.","summary":"Receptor tyrosine kinase which binds promiscuously membrane-bound ephrin-A family ligands residing on adjacent cells, leading to contact-dependent bidirectional signalling into neighboring cells. The signalling pathway downstream of the receptor is referred to as forward signalling while the signalling pathway downstream of the ephrin ligand is referred to as reverse signalling. Binds with a low affinity EFNA3 and EFNA4 and with a high affinity to EFNA1 which most probably constitutes its cognate/functional ligand.\n\nOpen Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.60 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.93, animal model 0.43, genetic association 0.00, clinical 0.93).","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:3385","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:3385"},{"label":"UniProt P21709","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P21709/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 2041","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/2041"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000146904","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000146904"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["open-targets"],"cancers":["thyroid","neuroendocrine"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Written by scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts from CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC and UniProt; the function text is UniProt's, condensed and in UK spelling. Roles: Open Targets known-drug datatype score 0.93. Evidence tier \"approved-drug\" is the strongest of those signals.","Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts (CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC, UniProt)","editedOn":"2026-09-23"},"symbol":"EPHA1","role":["drug-target"],"evidenceTier":"approved-drug","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:3385","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:3385","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt P21709","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P21709/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000146904","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000146904/associations","note":"association with cancer (MONDO_0004992) 0.60; per-cancer scores at or above 0.5: thyroid cancer 0.56, neuroendocrine neoplasm 0.55 (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"distribution":"few-types","specificityNote":"Specificity not established: no corpus medicine is aimed at it and the catalogues give it only the role drug-target; HPA finds the RNA group enriched, which says where the protein sits but not whether the tumour differs from normal tissue. HPA EPHA1: RNA group enriched (esophagus 56 nTPM, parathyroid gland 194 nTPM); blood lineage lineage enriched (T-cells 4 nTPM); no normal tissue stained high; highest cancer staining colorectal cancer (6 of 12 high). Distribution: 2 cancer families in the corpus carry a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Thyroid cancer, Neuroendocrine tumours); Open Targets associates it with 1 specific cancer type at or above 0.5 (medullary thyroid gland carcinoma). (No rule of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts fired.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas EPHA1 tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000146904-EPHA1/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000146904 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000146904/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:3385","ensembl":"ENSG00000146904","uniprot":"P21709","entrez":"2041","firstDescribed":1987,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Hirai et al, Science, 1987, \"A novel putative tyrosine kinase receptor encoded by the eph gene\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2825356/","biology":"Receptor tyrosine kinase which binds promiscuously membrane-bound ephrin-A family ligands residing on adjacent cells, leading to contact-dependent bidirectional signalling into neighboring cells. The signalling pathway downstream of the receptor is referred to as forward signalling while the signalling pathway downstream of the ephrin ligand is referred to as reverse signalling. Binds with a low affinity EFNA3 and EFNA4 and with a high affinity to EFNA1 which most probably constitutes its cognate/functional ligand. Upon activation by EFNA1 induces cell attachment to the extracellular matrix inhibiting cell spreading and motility through regulation of ILK and downstream RHOA and RAC. Also plays a role in angiogenesis and regulates cell proliferation. May play a role in apoptosis. Location: Cell membrane (UniProt). Locus 7q34-q35 (HGNC).","whereFound":["Thyroid cancer: Open Targets association 0.56 with thyroid cancer (MONDO_0002108)","Neuroendocrine tumours: Open Targets association 0.55 with neuroendocrine neoplasm (MONDO_0019496)"],"targetClass":"kinase","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/epha1/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"open-targets","kind":"collection","name":"Open Targets Platform","route":"/collections/open-targets/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"neuroendocrine","kind":"cancer","name":"Neuroendocrine tumours","route":"/cancers/neuroendocrine/"},{"id":"thyroid","kind":"cancer","name":"Thyroid cancer","route":"/cancers/thyroid/"}]}}