# NCOA4

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/ncoa4/  
OnCo record `ncoa4` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

NCOA4 (Nuclear receptor coactivator 4) is a protein that switches other genes on and off. In the public catalogues the evidence so far is association rather than a proven role. Tied to Thyroid cancer.

## Summary

Cargo receptor for the autophagic turnover of the iron-binding ferritin complex, playing a central role in iron homeostasis. Acts as an adapter for delivery of ferritin to lysosomes and autophagic degradation of ferritin, a process named ferritinophagy. Targets the iron-binding ferritin complex to autolysosomes following starvation or iron depletion.

Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.62 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.97, genetic association 0.21, somatic mutation 0.94).

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: nuclear receptor coactivator 4; Nuclear receptor coactivator 4; ARA70; ELE1; PTC3; DKFZp762E1112
- Tags: cancer-genes-wave
- Symbol: NCOA4
- Class: transcription
- Biology: Cargo receptor for the autophagic turnover of the iron-binding ferritin complex, playing a central role in iron homeostasis. Acts as an adapter for delivery of ferritin to lysosomes and autophagic degradation of ferritin, a process named ferritinophagy. Targets the iron-binding ferritin complex to autolysosomes following starvation or iron depletion. Ensures efficient erythropoiesis, possibly by regulating hemin-induced erythroid differentiation. In some studies, has been shown to enhance the androgen receptor AR transcriptional activity as well as acting as ligand-independent coactivator of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma. Another study shows only weak behaviour as a coactivator for the androgen receptor and no alteration of the ligand responsiveness of the AR. Location: Cytoplasmic vesicle, autophagosome; Autolysosome; Nucleus; Chromosome (UniProt). Locus 10q11.22 (HGNC).
- Where found: Thyroid cancer: Open Targets association 0.54 with thyroid cancer (MONDO_0002108)

## 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: none stated by the sources. Evidence tier "association-only" is the strongest of those signals.
- Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:7671: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:7671
- UniProt Q13772: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q13772/entry
- NCBI Gene 8031: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/8031
- Ensembl ENSG00000266412: https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000266412

## Connected records

- collections: [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)
- cancers: [Thyroid cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/thyroid/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/ncoa4.json