{"entity":{"id":"aldh1a2","kind":"target","name":"ALDH1A2","aka":["aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family member A2","Retinal dehydrogenase 2","RALDH2"],"tldr":"ALDH1A2 (Retinal dehydrogenase 2) is an enzyme. The public catalogues list it as a drug target and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.","summary":"Catalyses the NAD-dependent oxidation of aldehyde substrates, such as all-trans-retinal and all-trans-13,14-dihydroretinal, to their corresponding carboxylic acids, all-trans-retinoate and all-trans-13,14-dihydroretinoate, respectively. Retinoate signalling is critical for the transcriptional control of many genes, for instance it is crucial for initiation of meiosis in both male and female. Recognises retinal as substrate, both in its free form and when bound to cellular retinol-binding protein.\n\nCIViC holds 3 clinical evidence items and 0 assertions across 2 variants, naming Tretinoin.","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:15472","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:15472"},{"label":"UniProt O94788","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/O94788/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 8854","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/8854"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000128918","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000128918"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["civic"],"cancers":["head-and-neck"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"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: CIViC lists 1 therapies; CIViC holds 3 clinical evidence items on its variants. Evidence tier \"clinical-evidence\" is the strongest of those signals.","Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts (CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC, UniProt)","editedOn":"2026-09-23"},"symbol":"ALDH1A2","role":["drug-target","biomarker"],"evidenceTier":"clinical-evidence","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:15472","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:15472","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt O94788","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/O94788/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"CIViC gene ALDH1A2","url":"https://civicdb.org/features/7024","note":"3 evidence items, 0 assertions, 2 variants; diseases: Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:15472","ensembl":"ENSG00000128918","uniprot":"O94788","entrez":"8854","biology":"Catalyses the NAD-dependent oxidation of aldehyde substrates, such as all-trans-retinal and all-trans-13,14-dihydroretinal, to their corresponding carboxylic acids, all-trans-retinoate and all-trans-13,14-dihydroretinoate, respectively. Retinoate signalling is critical for the transcriptional control of many genes, for instance it is crucial for initiation of meiosis in both male and female. Recognises retinal as substrate, both in its free form and when bound to cellular retinol-binding protein. Can metabolise octanal and decanal, but has only very low activity with benzaldehyde, acetaldehyde and propanal. Displays complete lack of activity with citral. Location: Cytoplasm (UniProt). Locus 15q21.3 (HGNC).","whereFound":["Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: CIViC evidence names this disease"],"targetClass":"enzyme","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/aldh1a2/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"civic","kind":"collection","name":"CIViC","route":"/collections/civic/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"head-and-neck","kind":"cancer","name":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/head-and-neck/"}]}}