{"entity":{"id":"dll3","kind":"target","name":"DLL3","aka":[],"tldr":"A protein that appears on the surface of small-cell lung cancer cells, now hit by a drug that pulls T cells onto them.","summary":"Delta-like ligand 3 is an inhibitory Notch ligand aberrantly surface-expressed in ~85% of small-cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine prostate cancer. The first DLL3 ADC (rovalpituzumab tesirine) failed; the T-cell engager tarlatamab (Imdelltra) succeeded, with a survival benefit in second-line SCLC (DeLLphi-304). Trispecifics and CAR-T follow. For radiopharmaceuticals it is a target in waiting rather than in use: no DLL3 radioligand is in the clinic, and the nearest commitment is the discovery-stage DLL3 programme Telix acquired from ImaginAb in January 2025, which carries no candidate code or isotope. A surface antigen present on most small-cell lung cancers, in a disease where a scan-then-treat pair does not yet exist, is the obvious place for one.","asOf":"2026-09-04","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLL3","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLL3"}],"tags":["t-cell-engager-target"],"related":[],"indications":["sclc","prostate"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["abdera-therapeutics"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"symbol":"DLL3","hgnc":"HGNC:2909","ensembl":"ENSG00000090932","uniprot":"Q9NYJ7","entrez":"10683","biology":"Normally intracellular Golgi protein; ASCL1-driven neuroendocrine lineage exposes it on the membrane.","whereFound":["Small-cell lung cancer","Neuroendocrine prostate cancer","Large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma"],"targetClass":"surface-antigen","prevalence":[{"indicationId":"sclc","pct":"80-85","measure":"IHC, any expression","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLL3"},{"indicationId":"prostate","pct":"70-80","measure":"Neuroendocrine prostate cancer only","source":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLL3","note":"Rare in adenocarcinoma"}]},"route":"/targets/dll3/","neighbours":{"indication":[{"id":"prostate-nepc","kind":"indication","name":"Neuroendocrine and small-cell prostate cancer","route":"/indications/prostate-nepc/"},{"id":"neuroendocrine","kind":"indication","name":"Neuroendocrine tumours","route":"/indications/neuroendocrine/"},{"id":"prostate","kind":"indication","name":"Prostate cancer","route":"/indications/prostate/"},{"id":"sclc","kind":"indication","name":"Small-cell lung cancer","route":"/indications/sclc/"}],"company":[{"id":"abdera-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"Abdera Therapeutics","route":"/companies/abdera-therapeutics/"},{"id":"telix","kind":"company","name":"Telix Pharmaceuticals","route":"/companies/telix/"}],"technology":[{"id":"radioimmunotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Radio-antibody & radio-ADC","route":"/technologies/radioimmunotherapy/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"lineage-plasticity-neuroendocrine","kind":"pathway","name":"Lineage plasticity & neuroendocrine transformation","route":"/pathways/lineage-plasticity-neuroendocrine/"}],"opportunity":[{"id":"opp-dll3-imaging-sclc","kind":"opportunity","name":"DLL3 imaging for small-cell lung cancer","route":"/opportunities/opp-dll3-imaging-sclc/"}]}}