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Protein / target

Prostatic acid phosphatase

Encoded byACP3P15309Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Structure with Ligand

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Lysophosphatidic acid phosphatase

Strongest disease association

Prostate carcinoma

Via encoding gene ACP3 · Genetic evidence · score 0.59

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

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

A non-specific tyrosine phosphatase that dephosphorylates a diverse number of substrates under acidic conditions (pH 4-6) including alkyl, aryl, and acyl orthophosphate monoesters and phosphorylated proteins.

View complete UniProt function annotation

A non-specific tyrosine phosphatase that dephosphorylates a diverse number of substrates under acidic conditions (pH 4-6) including alkyl, aryl, and acyl orthophosphate monoesters and phosphorylated proteins (PubMed:10506173, PubMed:15280042, PubMed:20498373, PubMed:9584846, PubMed:8132635). Has lipid phosphatase activity and inactivates lysophosphatidic acid in seminal plasma (PubMed:10506173, PubMed:15280042)

Subcellular location

SecretedCell membraneLysosome membraneNucleusCytoplasm, cytosol
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (29)

Gene Ontology

  • Capical part of cell
  • Cazurophil granule membrane
  • Ccytosol
  • Cextracellular exosome
  • Cextracellular space
  • Cfilopodium
  • CGolgi cisterna
  • Clysosomal membrane
  • Cmultivesicular body
  • Cnucleus
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Cvesicle membrane

386 aa · 45 kDa · 3 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Lipid & lipoprotein metabolismGO
View supporting evidence

Lipid & lipoprotein metabolism

  • ·lipid metabolic process
View underlying pathways (1)

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

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.

KLK3KLK2KLKB1MSMBSLC45A3TGM4GBAANO7AZGP1STEAP2ACP3

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.

Approved medicines with mapped indications

1 medicine · 2 areas

Approved therapies targeting this protein, grouped by what they are approved to treat — the disease-first view of the medicines below. Relationships come from the canonical approved-indication graph (ChEMBL phase-4), the same source as the drug cards.

Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant1 medicine
Broader indication categories (1)
Neoplasms1 medicine

Broad umbrella indications (e.g. “Neoplasms”). Shown here because every medicine also appears under a more specific disease above — kept for completeness, de-emphasised for clarity.

Approved indications from ChEMBL (phase-4), via the canonical drug→disease graph.

Drugs targeting this protein

1

How approved and investigational drugs engage this protein — mechanism and action type, direct vs complex targeting, and how broadly each acts across other targets. A drug-first view (the section above groups the approved ones disease-first); direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

sipuleucel-T
Narrow target profileApprovedBinding agent

Prostatic acid phosphatase binding agent

Indicated for Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant, Neoplasms

Direct interaction with this protein · Only this protein recorded as a target

ChEMBL mechanism, action type, target identity and approved indications. Open Targets clinical status.

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 ACP3

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene ACP3that 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.

Prostatic Neoplasms
0.70Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.56

Prostate carcinoma
0.64Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.38

Neoplasms
0.53Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.40

Smoking initiation
0.50Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.30

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1
0.46Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.28

View evidence synthesis (5)
Prostatic NeoplasmsModerately supported
0.70
agreement 0.540.85
Clinical85%Literature15%

Open Targets aggregate 0.56 · 2 independent evidence families

Prostate carcinomaModerately supported
0.64
agreement 0.500.78
Genetic84%Literature17%

Open Targets aggregate 0.38 · 2 independent evidence families

NeoplasmsModerately supported
0.53
agreement 0.370.68
Clinical78%Literature22%

Open Targets aggregate 0.40 · 2 independent evidence families

Smoking initiationModerately supported
0.50
agreement 0.380.62
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.30 · 1 independent evidence family

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1Limited support
0.46
agreement 0.340.58
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.28 · 1 independent evidence family

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
Prostatic Neoplasms0.56
Neoplasms0.40
Prostate carcinoma0.38
Prostate adenocarcinoma0.34
Smoking initiation0.30
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 10.28
Alcohol drinking0.27
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity0.26
Substance-Related Disorders0.26
Disturbance of skin sensation0.25

Drug development

1 compounds recorded · 1 approved

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 1 drug that targets this protein in Forefront's canonical graph (1 with a mapped approved indication, shown above): these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (1)
SIPULEUCEL-TApproval

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 moleculesEmerging

Feasibility evidence (structure with ligand and high-quality ligand) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

AntibodiesEmerging

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

Protein degradersEmerging

Feasibility evidence (small molecule binder) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Other modalitiesStrong

Approved Drug support this modality.

View underlying tractability evidence (9)
SM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Med-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Small Molecule BinderOC · Approved Drug

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Clinical trials

30

Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein. Ranked by active status, then clinical phase and recency, and spread across the targeting drugs.

View all trials (26)

WITHDRAWN · via sipuleucel-T · NCT02793219

WITHDRAWN · via sipuleucel-T · NCT02793765

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

4

Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for a drug that targets this protein, plus publications where such a drug is a genuine subject. Every item is reached indirectly through the drug, not the protein itself; incidental mentions (a paper that merely measures a drug) and press items are excluded.

  1. New publication2021-03-29
    Moving on From Sipuleucel-T: New Dendritic Cell Vaccine Strategies for Prostate Cancer.

    Frontiers in immunology · 2021 · 74 citations · Europe PMC · via sipuleucel-T

  2. New publication2018-03-13
    Prime-boost vaccination targeting prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) using Sipuleucel-T and a DNA vaccine.

    Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2018 · 48 citations · Europe PMC · via sipuleucel-T

  3. New publication2010-07-01
    Sipuleucel-T immunotherapy for castration-resistant prostate cancer.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2010 · 4,000 citations · Europe PMC · via sipuleucel-T

  4. New publication2006-07-01
    Placebo-controlled phase III trial of immunologic therapy with sipuleucel-T (APC8015) in patients with metastatic, asymptomatic hormone refractory prostate cancer.

    Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2006 · 796 citations · Europe PMC · via sipuleucel-T

Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.

Related literature

1

Papers indexed under “5'-Nucleotidase” — a subject heading that covers this protein without being specific to it. Shown as context; not counted as this protein's own research activity.

The Immune Regulatory Role of Adenosine in the Tumor Microenvironment.

Xing J · International journal of molecular sciences · 2023

Europe PMC literature, reached through a MeSH descriptor linked to this protein.