{"entity":{"id":"epha4","kind":"target","name":"EPHA4","aka":["EPH receptor A4","Ephrin type-A receptor 4","Hek8","TYRO1"],"tldr":"EPHA4 (Ephrin type-A receptor 4) is a protein kinase, an enzyme that switches other proteins on by adding phosphate groups. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, and an approved or late-stage drug is recorded against it. Tied to Thyroid cancer and Neuroendocrine tumours.","summary":"Receptor tyrosine kinase which binds membrane-bound ephrin family ligands residing on adjacent cells, leading to contact-dependent bidirectional signalling into neighboring cells. The signalling pathway downstream of the receptor is referred to as forward signalling while the signalling pathway downstream of the ephrin ligand is referred to as reverse signalling. Highly promiscuous, it has the unique property among Eph receptors to bind and to be physiologically activated by both GPI-anchored ephrin-A and transmembrane ephrin-B ligands including EFNA1 and EFNB3.\n\nOpen Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.66 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.94, animal model 0.66, genetic association 0.39, clinical 0.93).","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:3388","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:3388"},{"label":"UniProt P54764","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P54764/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 2043","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/2043"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000116106","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000116106"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["open-targets"],"cancers":["thyroid","neuroendocrine"],"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: Open Targets known-drug datatype score 0.93. Evidence tier \"approved-drug\" 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":"EPHA4","role":["drug-target"],"evidenceTier":"approved-drug","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:3388","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:3388","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt P54764","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P54764/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000116106","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000116106/associations","note":"association with cancer (MONDO_0004992) 0.66; per-cancer scores at or above 0.5: thyroid cancer 0.56, neuroendocrine neoplasm 0.55 (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:3388","ensembl":"ENSG00000116106","uniprot":"P54764","entrez":"2043","biology":"Receptor tyrosine kinase which binds membrane-bound ephrin family ligands residing on adjacent cells, leading to contact-dependent bidirectional signalling into neighboring cells. The signalling pathway downstream of the receptor is referred to as forward signalling while the signalling pathway downstream of the ephrin ligand is referred to as reverse signalling. Highly promiscuous, it has the unique property among Eph receptors to bind and to be physiologically activated by both GPI-anchored ephrin-A and transmembrane ephrin-B ligands including EFNA1 and EFNB3. Upon activation by ephrin ligands, modulates cell morphology and integrin-dependent cell adhesion through regulation of the Rac, Rap and Rho GTPases activity. Plays an important role in the development of the nervous system controlling different steps of axonal guidance including the establishment of the corticospinal projections. May also control the segregation of motor and sensory axons during neuromuscular circuit development. Location: Cell membrane; Cell projection, axon; Cell projection, dendrite; Postsynaptic density membrane (UniProt). Locus 2q36.1 (HGNC).","whereFound":["Thyroid cancer: Open Targets association 0.56 with thyroid cancer (MONDO_0002108)","Neuroendocrine tumours: Open Targets association 0.55 with neuroendocrine neoplasm (MONDO_0019496)"],"targetClass":"kinase","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/epha4/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"open-targets","kind":"collection","name":"Open Targets Platform","route":"/collections/open-targets/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"neuroendocrine","kind":"cancer","name":"Neuroendocrine tumours","route":"/cancers/neuroendocrine/"},{"id":"thyroid","kind":"cancer","name":"Thyroid cancer","route":"/cancers/thyroid/"}]}}