Folate receptor alpha
Folate receptor alpha is a vitamin receptor that ovarian cancer cells carry in large numbers, used as the docking site for the ADC mirvetuximab. This dossier gathers the 4 products (2 approved), 2 trials, 0 pathways and 1 resistance route in the corpus that involve it, with external identifiers so it can be joined to UniProt, ChEMBL, Open Targets and the rest of biology.
Biology
GPI-anchored folate transporter; limited to apical surfaces in normal kidney, lung, and choroid plexus.
- High-grade serous ovarian (~80% any expression)
- Endometrial
- NSCLC adenocarcinoma
- TNBC (subset)
Elsewhere: identifiers and databases
Built from HGNC, Ensembl, UniProt and ChEMBL idsHow common it is, by cancer
Full matrix →| Cancer | Prevalence | Measure | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-small-cell lung cancer | 70-80% | Adenocarcinoma, any expression | Wikipedia | |
| Endometrial cancer | 60-80% | IHC, any expression | Wikipedia | |
| Ovarian cancer | 35-40% | FRα-high (PS2+ in >=75% of cells) | MIRASOL eligibility; ~80% any expression | Wikipedia |
Approximate, population-level figures; the measure column says what was counted. Ranges show the midpoint as a bar.
Products by modality and phase
Browse products →| Modality | Approved | Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
| ADC 3 | ||
| Imaging agent 1 | — |
Trials
Evidence ranking →| Trial | Phase | Status | Setting | Result | Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIRASOL / GOG-3045 NCT04209855 | 3 | Positive | Platinum-resistant ovarian cancer with high folate receptor alpha expression, 1-3 prior lines: mirvetuximab soravtansine vs chemotherapy | OS 16.46 vs 12.75 months (HR 0.67). | |
| RAINFOL-01 (Rina-S) NCT05579366 | 1/2 | Active | Advanced ovarian and endometrial cancer, heavily pretreated: rinatabart sesutecan (FRα ADC, exatecan payload) across FRα expression levels | ORR 55.6% (ovarian, 120 mg/m²); 50% (endometrial, 100 mg/m²). |
Resistance routes that involve this target
Unaddressed routes →Secondary mutations restore the open reading frame and homologous recombination; also confers platinum resistance.
- ctDNA detection of reversions to avoid futile re-challenge; switch to non-DDR agents (ADCs such as mirvetuximab)
Pathways where it is a node
Pathway-to-drug matrix →No pathway diagram carries this target as a node.
Companion diagnostics and assays
Assay registry →| Assay | Platform | Cut-off | Gates |
|---|---|---|---|
| VENTANA FOLR1 (FOLR1-2.1) RxDx Assay Roche Diagnostics · FDA CDx 2022 | IHC | At least 75% of viable tumour cells with membrane staining of at least 2+ intensity (mirvetuximab soravtansine, ovarian cancer) |
Preclinical models
All models →No model entry for this target yet; check the cancer entries on the models page.
Open questions
All open questions →- 01
Can folate-receptor-alpha ADCs work below the 75% high-expression cut-off used for mirvetuximab, and in platinum-sensitive disease?
clinicalindustryWhy unresolved. MIRASOL enrolled only FRalpha-high platinum-resistant patients; newer FRalpha ADCs with topoisomerase payloads (rinatabart sesutecan, luveltamab tazevibulin) claim activity at lower expression but lack randomised data.
What would answer it. Randomised trials in FRalpha-medium and platinum-sensitive populations with a standardised FRalpha assay.
Source: MIRASOL (ClinicalTrials.gov)
Ideas and companies
Key papers and the live literature
Preprints →Query for this target: (TITLE:"Folate receptor alpha" OR ABSTRACT:"Folate receptor alpha" OR TITLE:"FOLR1" OR ABSTRACT:"FOLR1") AND (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 Folate receptor alpha, not a curated reading list.
Export
The dossier as machine-readable JSON: identifiers from HGNC, Ensembl, UniProt and ChEMBL, products with status, trials, pathways, hotspots, open questions and assays. The full entity record is in the open API at /api/v1/entities/folr1.json. Licence CC BY 4.0.