{"entity":{"id":"scn3a","kind":"target","name":"SCN3A","aka":["sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 3","Sodium channel protein type 3 subunit alpha","Nav1.3"],"tldr":"SCN3A (Sodium channel protein type 3 subunit alpha) is a gene. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, and an approved or late-stage drug is recorded against it.","summary":"Pore-forming subunit of Nav1.3, a voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channel that directly mediates the depolarising phase of action potentials in excitable membranes. Navs, also called VGSCs (voltage-gated sodium channels) or VDSCs (voltage-dependent sodium channels), operate by switching between closed and open conformations depending on the voltage difference across the membrane. In the open conformation they allow Na(+) ions to selectively pass through the pore, along their electrochemical gradient.\n\nOpen Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.62 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.14, genetic association 0.48, clinical 0.86).","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:10590","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:10590"},{"label":"UniProt Q9NY46","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q9NY46/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 6328","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/6328"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000153253","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000153253"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["open-targets"],"cancers":[],"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 0.86. 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":"SCN3A","role":["drug-target"],"evidenceTier":"approved-drug","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:10590","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:10590","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt Q9NY46","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q9NY46/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000153253","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000153253/associations","note":"association with cancer (MONDO_0004992) 0.62;  (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"distribution":"not-established","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 tissue enhanced, which says where the protein sits but not whether the tumour differs from normal tissue. HPA SCN3A: RNA tissue enhanced (brain 9 nTPM, lymphoid tissue 4 nTPM); blood lineage lineage enriched (B-cells 15 nTPM); no normal tissue stained high; highest cancer staining thyroid cancer (1 of 3 high). Distribution: no corpus cancer carries a prevalence row, threshold or catalogue link for it; 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 SCN3A tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000153253-SCN3A/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000153253 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000153253/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:10590","ensembl":"ENSG00000153253","uniprot":"Q9NY46","entrez":"6328","firstDescribed":1994,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Malo M.S. et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A, 1994, \"Targeted gene walking by low stringency polymerase chain reaction: assignment of a putative human brain sodium channel gene (SCN3A) to chromosome 2q24-31\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8159690/","biology":"Pore-forming subunit of Nav1.3, a voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channel that directly mediates the depolarising phase of action potentials in excitable membranes. Navs, also called VGSCs (voltage-gated sodium channels) or VDSCs (voltage-dependent sodium channels), operate by switching between closed and open conformations depending on the voltage difference across the membrane. In the open conformation they allow Na(+) ions to selectively pass through the pore, along their electrochemical gradient. The influx of Na+ ions provokes membrane depolarisation, initiating the propagation of electrical signals throughout cells and tissues. In some secretory cell types, it also participates in cell excitability through membrane depolarisation and regulates cells responsiveness to stimuli triggering secretion. For instance, it controls the release of serotonin/5-hydroxytryptamine by enterochromaffin cells and is required for both glucagon- and glucose-induced insulin secretion in pancreatic endocrine cells. Location: Cell membrane; Basal cell membrane (UniProt). Locus 2q24.3 (HGNC).","whereFound":[],"targetClass":"other","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/scn3a/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"open-targets","kind":"collection","name":"Open Targets Platform","route":"/collections/open-targets/"}]}}