Protein / target

Adenosine deaminase

Encoded byADAP00813Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot

UniProt: P00813 Ensembl: ENSG00000196839 HGNC: HGNC:186 NCBI Gene: 100

Clinically validated

Therapeutic maturity

Approved medicines

Open Targets target-level

Small-molecule tractable

Druggability

Approved Drug

Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

2'-deoxyadenosine deaminase

Strongest disease association

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency

Via encoding gene ADA · Genetic evidence · score 0.90

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

Research activity

Emerging research

6 papers · latest 2024

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function overview

Catalyzes the hydrolytic deamination of adenosine and 2-deoxyadenosine.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Catalyzes the hydrolytic deamination of adenosine and 2-deoxyadenosine (PubMed:16670267, PubMed:23193172, PubMed:26166670, PubMed:8452534, PubMed:9361033). Plays an important role in purine metabolism and in adenosine homeostasis. Modulates signaling by extracellular adenosine, and so contributes indirectly to cellular signaling events. Acts as a positive regulator of T-cell coactivation, by binding DPP4 (PubMed:20959412). Its interaction with DPP4 regulates lymphocyte-epithelial cell adhesion (PubMed:11772392). Enhances dendritic cell immunogenicity by affecting dendritic cell costimulatory molecule expression and cytokines and chemokines secretion (By similarity). Enhances CD4+ T-cell differentiation and proliferation (PubMed:20959412). Acts as a positive modulator of adenosine receptors ADORA1 and ADORA2A, by enhancing their ligand affinity via conformational change (PubMed:23193172). Stimulates plasminogen activation (PubMed:15016824). Plays a role in male fertility (PubMed:21919946, PubMed:26166670). Plays a protective role in early postimplantation embryonic development (By similarity). Also responsible for the deamination of cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine), a fungal natural product that shows antitumor, antibacterial, antifungal, antivirus, and immune regulation properties (PubMed:26038697)

Subcellular location

Cell membraneCell junctionCytoplasmic vesicle lumenCytoplasmLysosome

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (29)

Gene Ontology

Canchoring junction
Ccell surface
Ccytoplasmic vesicle lumen
Ccytosol
Cexternal side of plasma membrane
Clysosome
Cmembrane
Cplasma membrane
F2'-deoxyadenosine deaminase activity
Fadenosine deaminase activity
Fdeaminase activity
Fzinc ion binding

363 aa · 41 kDa

Biological roles

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

Cell adhesionUniProt · GOImmune signallingUniProt · GOMetabolic enzyme activityGO

View supporting evidence

Cell adhesion

·Catalyzes the hydrolytic deamination of adenosine and 2-deoxyadenosine (PubMed:16670267,…
·Cell junction
·cell adhesion
·regulation of cell-cell adhesion mediated by integrin

Immune signalling

·Catalyzes the hydrolytic deamination of adenosine and 2-deoxyadenosine (PubMed:16670267,…
·T cell activation

Metabolic enzyme activity

·adenosine metabolic process
·xenobiotic metabolic process

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.

Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene ADA

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene ADAthat encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency

0.96Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.65

T-B- severe combined immunodeficiency

0.61Moderately supported

Genetic literature evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.46

Neoplasms

0.53Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.40

Anemia

0.47Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

View evidence synthesis (4)

Severe Combined ImmunodeficiencyWell supported

0.96

agreement 0.86–1.00

Genetic57%Clinical29%Literature8%Animal model6%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.65 · 4 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

T-B- severe combined immunodeficiencyModerately supported

0.61

agreement 0.45–0.76

Genetic literature100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.46 · 1 independent evidence family

NeoplasmsModerately supported

0.53

agreement 0.37–0.68

Clinical78%Literature22%

Open Targets aggregate 0.40 · 2 independent evidence families

AnemiaLimited support

0.47

agreement 0.31–0.62

Clinical95%Literature5%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 2 independent evidence families

The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency0.65

T-B- severe combined immunodeficiency0.46

Neoplasms0.40

Anemia0.37

Drug development

2 compounds recorded · 2 approved

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines.

View all recorded compounds (2)

AUTOLOGOUS CD34+ ENRICHED CELL FRACTION THAT CONTAINS CD34+ CELLS TRANSDUCED WITH RETROVIRAL VECTOR THAT ENCODES FOR THE HUMAN ADA CDNA SEQUENCEApproval

PENTOSTATINApproval

Open Targets known-drugs universe. Drug name and highest clinical stage only — the disease relationship is NOT read from this slice (it carries trial-context noise); approved indications come from the canonical graph above.

Tractability

Small molecules — Strong

Approved Drug and Structure with Ligand support this modality.

Antibodies — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (uniprot loc high conf and go cc high conf) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Protein degraders — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (database ubiquitination and half-life data) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (11)

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · Human Protein Atlas locPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Half-life DataPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.