{"entity":{"id":"hla-dra","kind":"target","name":"HLA-DRA","aka":["major histocompatibility complex, class II, DR alpha","HLA class II histocompatibility antigen, DR alpha chain","HLA-DRA1"],"tldr":"HLA-DRA (HLA class II histocompatibility antigen, DR alpha chain) is a gene. The public catalogues list it as a drug target and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Melanoma.","summary":"An alpha chain of antigen-presenting major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) molecule. In complex with the beta chain HLA-DRB, displays antigenic peptides on professional antigen presenting cells (APCs) for recognition by alpha-beta T cell receptor (TCR) on HLA-DR-restricted CD4-positive T cells. This guides antigen-specific T-helper effector functions, both antibody-mediated immune response and macrophage activation, to ultimately eliminate the infectious agents and transformed cells.\n\nCIViC holds 1 clinical evidence item and 0 assertions across 1 variant, naming Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab and Atezolizumab.","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:4947","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:4947"},{"label":"UniProt P01903","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P01903/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 3122","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/3122"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000204287","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000204287"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["civic"],"cancers":["melanoma"],"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: CIViC lists 3 therapies; CIViC holds 1 clinical evidence items on its variants. Evidence tier \"clinical-evidence\" 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":"HLA-DRA","role":["drug-target","biomarker","immune-checkpoint"],"evidenceTier":"clinical-evidence","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:4947","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:4947","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt P01903","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P01903/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"CIViC gene HLA-DRA","url":"https://civicdb.org/features/2622","note":"1 evidence items, 0 assertions, 1 variants; diseases: Skin Melanoma (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"distribution":"one-type","specificityNote":"Specificity not established: no corpus medicine is aimed at it and the catalogues give it only the roles drug-target, biomarker; HPA finds the RNA tissue enhanced, which says where the protein sits but not whether the tumour differs from normal tissue. HPA HLA-DRA: RNA tissue enhanced (lung 931 nTPM, lymphoid tissue 1,197 nTPM); blood lineage group enriched (B-cells 420 nTPM, dendritic cells 231 nTPM, monocytes 409 nTPM); high antibody staining in 10 normal tissues; highest cancer staining lymphoma (4 of 10 high). Distribution: 1 cancer family in the corpus carries a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Skin cancer (all types)); Open Targets associates it with 0 specific cancer types at or above 0.5. (No rule of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts fired.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas HLA-DRA tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000204287-HLA-DRA/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000204287 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000204287/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:4947","ensembl":"ENSG00000204287","uniprot":"P01903","entrez":"3122","firstDescribed":1982,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Lee J.S. et al, Nature, 1982, \"Sequence of an HLA-DR alpha-chain cDNA clone and intron-exon organization of the corresponding gene\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6811954/","biology":"An alpha chain of antigen-presenting major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) molecule. In complex with the beta chain HLA-DRB, displays antigenic peptides on professional antigen presenting cells (APCs) for recognition by alpha-beta T cell receptor (TCR) on HLA-DR-restricted CD4-positive T cells. This guides antigen-specific T-helper effector functions, both antibody-mediated immune response and macrophage activation, to ultimately eliminate the infectious agents and transformed cells. Typically presents extracellular peptide antigens of 10 to 30 amino acids that arise from proteolysis of endocytosed antigens in lysosomes. In the tumour microenvironment, presents antigenic peptides that are primarily generated in tumour-resident APCs likely via phagocytosis of apoptotic tumour cells or macropinocytosis of secreted tumour proteins. Presents peptides derived from intracellular proteins that are trapped in autolysosomes after macroautophagy, a mechanism especially relevant for T cell selection in the thymus and central immune tolerance. Location: Cell membrane; Endoplasmic reticulum membrane; Early endosome membrane; Late endosome membrane (UniProt). Locus 6p21.32 (HGNC).","whereFound":["Melanoma: CIViC evidence names this disease"],"targetClass":"other","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/hla-dra/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"civic","kind":"collection","name":"CIViC","route":"/collections/civic/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"}],"target":[{"id":"fgl1","kind":"target","name":"FGL1","route":"/targets/fgl1/"}],"term":[{"id":"checkpoint","kind":"term","name":"Checkpoint (two meanings)","route":"/terms/checkpoint/"}]}}