Loading
CD25 is the part of the interleukin-2 receptor found on activated T cells and on some lymphoma cells; denileukin diftitox uses it as a doorway to deliver a toxin.
CD25, the alpha chain of the high-affinity interleukin-2 receptor (IL2RA), is expressed on activated T cells, regulatory T cells and the malignant cells of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma and some Hodgkin and B-cell lymphomas. Denileukin diftitox, a fusion of IL-2 with diphtheria toxin fragments, binds CD25-expressing cells and kills them by blocking protein synthesis; it was approved in 1999, withdrawn in 2014 for manufacturing reasons and reapproved as Lymphir in 2024 for relapsed or refractory stage I to III CTCL. Anti-CD25 antibodies (basiliximab, daclizumab) are used in transplantation and were studied in leukaemia and for regulatory T-cell depletion.
In plain words · CD25 is the part of the interleukin-2 receptor found on activated T cells and on some lymphoma cells; denileukin diftitox uses it as a doorway to deliver a toxin.
CD25 is the part of the interleukin-2 receptor found on activated T cells and on some lymphoma cells; denileukin diftitox uses it as a doorway to deliver a toxin.
CD25 confers high-affinity IL-2 binding; its density on regulatory T cells makes it a candidate for depleting immunosuppressive cells in the tumour microenvironment.
2 products aim at CD25 (IL-2 receptor alpha): bispecific antibodies and immunotoxins. Because it sits on the outside of the cell, it can be reached from the bloodstream: antibodies flag the cell, ADCs deliver a toxin, radioligands deliver radiation, and CAR-T or bispecifics bring a T cell.
Immune or microenvironment target: its medicines act on immune, stromal or bone cells rather than on the tumour cell (drug mechanisms in the corpus). HPA IL2RA: RNA tissue enhanced (adipose tissue 18 nTPM, lymphoid tissue 17 nTPM, urinary bladder 10 nTPM); blood lineage group enriched (granulocytes 193 nTPM, T-cells 271 nTPM); high antibody staining in 1 normal tissue. Distribution: 1 cancer family in the corpus carries a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Lymphoma); Open Targets associates it with 2 specific cancer types at or above 0.5 (primary cutaneous T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, renal cell carcinoma); the corpus evidence decides and the Open Targets list is quoted for comparison. (Rule 1 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)
Sources: Human Protein Atlas IL2RA tissue; UniProt P01589; Open Targets ENSG00000134460 associations
First described 1984. Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Nikaido et al, Nature, 1984, "Molecular cloning of cDNA encoding human interleukin-2 receptor". Source.
CD25 confers high-affinity IL-2 binding; its density on regulatory T cells makes it a candidate for depleting immunosuppressive cells in the tumour microenvironment.
RNA: tissue enhanced (adipose tissue 18 nTPM, lymphoid tissue 17 nTPM, urinary bladder 10 nTPM), detected in many normal tissues. Blood: group enriched (granulocytes 193 nTPM, T-cells 271 nTPM).
Medium: Lymph node, Spleen, Tonsil.
No cancer stained high; medium in lymphoma.
HPA IL2RA tissue · HPA IL2RA pathology · HPA protein class: CD markers, FDA approved drug targets
Human Protein Atlas version 25.1, antibody staining at reliability approved, enhanced or supported; used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Staining counts are patients per level in the atlas cohort, not population prevalence.
| Cancer | Prevalence | Measure | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peripheral T-cell lymphomas | 86% | IHC (anti-Tac), IL-2 receptor in >10% of cells, 13 peripheral T-cell lymphomas | Strauchen and Breakstone 1987; in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma Jones 2004 found strong CD25 in 13 of 17 skin biopsies with lower expression in paired lymph nodes (doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-0721-03) | PMC |
| Hodgkin lymphoma | 58% | IHC (anti-Tac), IL-2 receptor in >10% of cells, 12 Hodgkin's disease cases | Strauchen and Breakstone 1987 (Am J Pathol), 166-case series; positivity includes Reed-Sternberg cells | PMC |
Approximate, population-level figures; the measure column says what was counted. Ranges show the midpoint as a bar.
Denileukin diftitox (Lymphir) is an infusion that uses the interleukin-2 signal as a homing device to deliver a bacterial toxin into cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cells. It was withdrawn in 2014 and returned in an improved form in 2024.
TAK-928 is an experimental bispecific antibody from Takeda in phase 3 trials for non-small-cell lung cancer, aimed at PD-1 and CD25 (IL-2 receptor alpha).
Query for this target: (TITLE:"CD25" OR ABSTRACT:"CD25" OR TITLE:"IL-2 receptor alpha" OR ABSTRACT:"IL-2 receptor alpha" OR TITLE:"IL2RA" OR ABSTRACT:"IL2RA") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about CD25 (IL-2 receptor alpha), not a curated reading list.
Shares Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), Hodgkin lymphoma and the tag surface-antigen.
Shares Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma) and the tag surface-antigen.
Shares Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), Hodgkin lymphoma.
Shares Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), Hodgkin lymphoma.
Shares Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), Hodgkin lymphoma.
Shares Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), Hodgkin lymphoma.
Shares Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), Hodgkin lymphoma.
Shares Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma), Hodgkin lymphoma.