{"entity":{"id":"gd2","kind":"target","name":"GD2 (disialoganglioside)","aka":["Disialoganglioside GD2"],"tldr":"GD2 is a sugar-fat molecule on the surface of neuroblastoma cells (and some other childhood and adult tumours) with almost none on normal tissue except nerves, which is why anti-GD2 drugs cause pain.","summary":"Disialoganglioside GD2 is expressed at high density on nearly all neuroblastomas, most osteosarcomas and melanomas, and diffuse midline gliomas, with normal expression restricted to peripheral nerves, melanocytes and CNS. Anti-GD2 antibodies (dinutuximab, dinutuximab beta, naxitamab) improved high-risk neuroblastoma survival; GD2 CAR-T (GD2-CART01, Italian phase 1/2) gives durable complete responses in relapsed disease and shows activity in diffuse midline glioma (Stanford). Neuropathic pain from nerve GD2 binding is the class toxicity.","asOf":"2026-09-07","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GD2","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GD2"}],"tags":["antibody-target","car-t-target"],"related":[],"cancers":["neuroblastoma","sarcoma","melanoma","glioblastoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["dinutuximab","naxitamab"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["nct07744256","nct07480213"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"symbol":"GD2 (B4GALNT1 product)","role":[],"sources":[],"specificity":"tumour-associated","distribution":"few-types","specificityNote":"Tumour-associated overexpression: 2 antibodies (Dinutuximab (ch14.18) / dinutuximab beta, Naxitamab) aim at the antigen, which HPA finds stained high in 6 normal tissues; the medicine relies on the tumour carrying more of it than the normal tissue it shares it with. HPA B4GALNT1: RNA tissue enriched (brain 84 nTPM); high antibody staining in 6 normal tissues; highest cancer staining testis cancer (1 of 11 high). Distribution: 4 cancer families in the corpus carry a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST), Childhood cancers (all types), Skin cancer (all types), Brain and spinal cord tumours (all types)); Open Targets associates it with 0 specific cancer types at or above 0.5. (Rule 5 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas B4GALNT1 tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000135454-B4GALNT1/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Human Protein Atlas B4GALNT1 pathology","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000135454-B4GALNT1/pathology","note":"patients per staining level per cancer type (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000135454 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000135454/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"biology":"Glycosphingolipid synthesised by GD2 synthase (B4GALNT1); not internalised efficiently, so antibodies act by ADCC/CDC rather than as ADC carriers.","whereFound":["Neuroblastoma (~100%)","Osteosarcoma","Melanoma","Diffuse midline glioma / DIPG","Small-cell lung cancer (subset)","Ewing sarcoma (subset)"],"targetClass":"surface-antigen","prevalence":[{"cancerId":"sarcoma","pct":100,"measure":"IHC, GD2 in 44 of 44 osteosarcoma specimens","source":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.28461","note":"Roth 2014 (Cancer); recurrent samples stained more intensely than primaries"}]},"route":"/targets/gd2/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"childhood-cancers","kind":"cancer","name":"Childhood cancers (all types)","route":"/cancers/childhood-cancers/"},{"id":"dipg-dmg","kind":"cancer","name":"Diffuse midline glioma, H3 K27-altered (including DIPG)","route":"/cancers/dipg-dmg/"},{"id":"glioblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Glioma & glioblastoma","route":"/cancers/glioblastoma/"},{"id":"neuroblastoma-high-risk","kind":"cancer","name":"High-risk neuroblastoma","route":"/cancers/neuroblastoma-high-risk/"},{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"},{"id":"neuroblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Neuroblastoma (paediatric)","route":"/cancers/neuroblastoma/"},{"id":"osteosarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Osteosarcoma","route":"/cancers/osteosarcoma/"},{"id":"sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)","route":"/cancers/sarcoma/"}],"drug":[{"id":"dinutuximab","kind":"drug","name":"Dinutuximab (ch14.18) / dinutuximab beta","route":"/drugs/dinutuximab/"},{"id":"naxitamab","kind":"drug","name":"Naxitamab","route":"/drugs/naxitamab/"}],"trial":[{"id":"nct07744256","kind":"trial","name":"Adaptive Phase 1/2 Study of Dual-Target CAR-NK Cells in Relapsed/Refractory Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)","route":"/trials/nct07744256/"},{"id":"nct07480213","kind":"trial","name":"Adaptive Phase 1/2 Study of Dual-Target CAR-NK Cells in Relapsed/Refractory Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)","route":"/trials/nct07480213/"},{"id":"anbl0032","kind":"trial","name":"COG ANBL0032","route":"/trials/anbl0032/"},{"id":"gd2-cart01","kind":"trial","name":"GD2-CART01 (Bambino Gesù phase 1/2)","route":"/trials/gd2-cart01/"}],"company":[{"id":"y-mabs","kind":"company","name":"Y-mAbs Therapeutics","route":"/companies/y-mabs/"}],"pairing":[{"id":"anti-gd2-plus-chemo-relapse","kind":"pairing","name":"Anti-GD2 antibody + irinotecan-temozolomide (chemoimmunotherapy)","route":"/pairings/anti-gd2-plus-chemo-relapse/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-gd2-car-t-frontline-consolidation","kind":"idea","name":"GD2 CAR-T as consolidation in high-risk neuroblastoma","route":"/ideas/idea-gd2-car-t-frontline-consolidation/"},{"id":"idea-bio2-fus-for-cell-entry","kind":"idea","name":"Open the barrier so engineered immune cells can enter the brain","route":"/ideas/idea-bio2-fus-for-cell-entry/"}],"person":[{"id":"alice-yu","kind":"person","name":"Alice L. Yu","route":"/people/alice-yu/"},{"id":"crystal-mackall","kind":"person","name":"Crystal L. Mackall","route":"/people/crystal-mackall/"},{"id":"julie-park","kind":"person","name":"Julie R. Park","route":"/people/julie-park/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-rare-cancers","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Rare and paediatric cancers without markets","route":"/bottlenecks/b-rare-cancers/"}],"institution":[{"id":"baylor-duncan","kind":"institution","name":"Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine","route":"/institutions/baylor-duncan/"},{"id":"texas-childrens","kind":"institution","name":"Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center","route":"/institutions/texas-childrens/"},{"id":"ucsd-moores","kind":"institution","name":"UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/ucsd-moores/"},{"id":"uw-carbone","kind":"institution","name":"University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/uw-carbone/"}]}}