Glypican-3
Glypican-3 is a fetal liver protein that reappears in liver cancer, giving CAR-T and bispecifics a clean target.
Overview
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.
- Target · the protein and the cell it sits on
- Drug · antibody, small molecule, cell or radioligand
- Effect · signal, damage or kill
In plain words · Glypican-3 is a fetal liver protein that reappears in liver cancer, giving CAR-T and bispecifics a clean target.
- 1 · What it is
Glypican-3 is a fetal liver protein that reappears in liver cancer, giving CAR-T and bispecifics a clean target.
- 2 · What goes wrong in cancer
Glypican-3 is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan modulating Wnt and Hedgehog signalling.
- 3 · How drugs use it
No product in this corpus aims at Glypican-3 yet. 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.
External identifiers
Biology
Glypican-3 is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan modulating Wnt and Hedgehog signalling.
- Hepatocellular carcinoma
- Hepatoblastoma
- Yolk-sac tumours
How often this target appears
| Cancer | Prevalence | Measure | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | 70-80% | IHC, any expression | Wikipedia |
Approximate, population-level figures; the measure column says what was counted. Ranges show the midpoint as a bar.
Latest papers
topQuery for this target: (TITLE:"Glypican-3" OR ABSTRACT:"Glypican-3" OR TITLE:"GPC3" OR ABSTRACT:"GPC3") AND (radiopharmaceutical OR radioligand OR radionuclide OR theranostic OR "nuclear medicine" OR "molecular imaging" OR radiotracer OR scintigraphy OR 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 Glypican-3, not a curated reading list.