{"entity":{"id":"hla-a","kind":"target","name":"HLA-A","aka":["HLA-A*02","HLA-A*02:01","major histocompatibility complex, class I, A"],"tldr":"HLA-A is the molecule that holds up short pieces of a cell's proteins for T cells to inspect. Engineered T-cell receptor therapies such as tebentafusp and afami-cel only work in people with the HLA-A*02 variant, because the receptor recognises the tumour peptide sitting in that particular groove.","summary":"HLA-A (chromosome 6p22.1) is a class I MHC molecule that, with beta-2-microglobulin, displays mainly viral and tumour-derived peptides for recognition by the alpha-beta T-cell receptor on HLA-A-restricted CD8 T cells, guiding the response that eliminates infected or transformed cells; it can also present self-peptides from signal sequences, to which T cells are normally inactivated (UniProt P04439). It matters in oncology because TCR-based drugs are allele-specific: tebentafusp (gp100 peptide on HLA-A*02:01, approved 2022 for uveal melanoma), afamitresgene autoleucel (MAGE-A4 230-239 peptide on HLA-A*02, approved for synovial sarcoma), letetresgene autoleucel (NY-ESO-1/LAGE-1a on HLA-A*02) and brenetafusp (PRAME on HLA-A*02:01) all require the HLA-A*02 genotype as well as antigen expression.","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:4931","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:4931"},{"label":"UniProt P04439","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P04439/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 3105","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/3105"}],"tags":["wave5-target"],"related":["gp100","mage-a4","prame","cd3"],"cancers":["uveal-melanoma","melanoma","synovial-sarcoma","sarcoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":["tcr-t"],"targets":[],"drugs":["tebentafusp","afamitresgene-autoleucel","letetresgene-autoleucel","brenetafusp"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["antigen-presentation-immunoediting","cancer-immunity-cycle"],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Prevalence not recorded in this wave: HGNC and UniProt carry no positivity rates and no other source was consulted."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"OnCo content wave 5 (HGNC REST, UniProt REST, corpus drug and pathway records)","editedOn":"2026-09-22"},"symbol":"HLA-A","hgnc":"HGNC:4931","ensembl":"ENSG00000206503","uniprot":"P04439","entrez":"3105","biology":"The antigen-presentation pathway record describes the escape routes: tumours that lose beta-2-microglobulin or HLA stop showing peptides and become invisible to CD8 T cells and to these therapies, and the HLA genotype shapes which mutations are visible at all.","whereFound":["Eligibility marker (HLA-A*02) for TCR-T and soluble TCR therapies in uveal melanoma, synovial sarcoma and myxoid/round cell liposarcoma","All nucleated cells (antigen presentation)"],"targetClass":"surface-antigen","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/hla-a/","neighbours":{"target":[{"id":"cd3","kind":"target","name":"CD3","route":"/targets/cd3/"},{"id":"gp100","kind":"target","name":"gp100 (PMEL)","route":"/targets/gp100/"},{"id":"mage-a4","kind":"target","name":"MAGE-A4","route":"/targets/mage-a4/"},{"id":"prame","kind":"target","name":"PRAME","route":"/targets/prame/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"},{"id":"sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)","route":"/cancers/sarcoma/"},{"id":"synovial-sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Synovial sarcoma","route":"/cancers/synovial-sarcoma/"},{"id":"uveal-melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Uveal melanoma","route":"/cancers/uveal-melanoma/"}],"technology":[{"id":"tcr-t","kind":"technology","name":"TCR-T cell therapy","route":"/technologies/tcr-t/"}],"drug":[{"id":"afamitresgene-autoleucel","kind":"drug","name":"Afamitresgene autoleucel","route":"/drugs/afamitresgene-autoleucel/"},{"id":"brenetafusp","kind":"drug","name":"Brenetafusp","route":"/drugs/brenetafusp/"},{"id":"letetresgene-autoleucel","kind":"drug","name":"Letetresgene autoleucel","route":"/drugs/letetresgene-autoleucel/"},{"id":"tebentafusp","kind":"drug","name":"Tebentafusp","route":"/drugs/tebentafusp/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"antigen-presentation-immunoediting","kind":"pathway","name":"Antigen presentation & immune editing","route":"/pathways/antigen-presentation-immunoediting/"},{"id":"cancer-immunity-cycle","kind":"pathway","name":"The cancer-immunity cycle","route":"/pathways/cancer-immunity-cycle/"}]}}