# Glypican-3

Source: https://nuclide.cc/targets/gpc3/  
Nuclide record `gpc3` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from Nuclide (nuclide.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Glypican-3 is a fetal liver protein that reappears in liver cancer, giving CAR-T and bispecifics a clean target.

## Summary

Glypican-3 is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan that modulates Wnt and Hedgehog signalling; it is a fetal liver protein expressed in 70-80% of hepatocellular carcinoma and essentially absent from normal adult liver, which gives cell and bispecific therapies a clean target. It is also found in hepatoblastoma and yolk-sac tumours. Antibodies failed as monotherapy (codrituzumab), suggesting that simply binding GPC3 is not enough. GPC3 CAR-T, including armoured constructs from AstraZeneca/Neogene and Chinese groups, and GPC3×CD3 bispecifics are showing responses, though durability and the hostile liver microenvironment remain concerns. The simple version is a liver-development protein that reappears in liver cancer, letting engineered immune cells recognise the tumour.

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-04
- Tags: car-t-target
- Symbol: GPC3
- Class: surface-antigen
- Biology: Glypican-3 is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan modulating Wnt and Hedgehog signalling.
- Where found: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Hepatoblastoma; Yolk-sac tumours

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glypican_3
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glypican_3

## Connected records

- indications: [Hepatocellular carcinoma](https://nuclide.cc/indications/hcc/)
- opportunities: [GPC3 imaging of the indeterminate liver nodule, led from China](https://nuclide.cc/opportunities/opp-gpc3-hcc-china/)
- targets: [5T4 (trophoblast glycoprotein)](https://nuclide.cc/targets/tpbg-5t4/)

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JSON: https://nuclide.cc/api/v1/entities/gpc3.json