Protein / target

Prostatic acid phosphatase

ACP3P15309Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Structure with Ligand

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Lysophosphatidic acid phosphatase activity

Primary system

Endocrine & metabolic

Strongest disease association

prostate carcinoma

Genetic evidence · score 0.59

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

1 approved medicine against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Structure with Ligand

Clinical development

1 approved

30 linked trials

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

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.

Metabolic enzyme activityGO
View supporting evidence

Metabolic enzyme activity

  • ·adenosine metabolic process
  • ·lipid metabolic process
  • ·nucleotide metabolic process
  • ·purine nucleobase 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.

Drugs targeting this protein

1

Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

sipuleucel-T
Narrow target profileApprovedBinding agent

Prostatic acid phosphatase binding agent

Appears in clinical studies involving prostate cancer, neoplasm, prostate adenocarcinoma, prostate adenocarcinoma

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

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

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.

Strongest genetic associations

Human genetic evidence — the most direct causal link between this target and a disease.

prostate carcinoma0.59

Genetic · overall 0.38

smoking initiation0.50

Genetic · overall 0.30

type 1 diabetes mellitus0.46

Genetic · overall 0.28

alcohol drinking0.43

Genetic · overall 0.27

attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder0.43

Genetic · overall 0.26

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.

prostate cancer0.88

Clinical · overall 0.56

neoplasm0.61

Clinical · overall 0.40

prostate adenocarcinoma0.55

Clinical · overall 0.34

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

substance abuse0.26

Genetic

disturbance of skin sensation0.25

Genetic

Show all associations
prostate cancer0.56
neoplasm0.40
prostate carcinoma0.38
prostate adenocarcinoma0.34
smoking initiation0.30
type 1 diabetes mellitus0.28
alcohol drinking0.27
attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder0.26
substance abuse0.26
disturbance of skin sensation0.25

Open Targets ranks 256 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.

Known drugs · 1 total

SIPULEUCEL-TApproval

prostate cancer · neoplasm · prostate adenocarcinoma

Tractability

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

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.

Show remaining trials (24)

WITHDRAWN · via sipuleucel-T · NCT02793765

WITHDRAWN · via sipuleucel-T · NCT02793219

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

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.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.

prostate cancerModerately 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

neoplasmModerately 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

type 1 diabetes mellitusLimited 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 underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

5

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through a drug that targets this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  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 publication2011-04-06
    PROVENGE (Sipuleucel-T) in prostate cancer: the first FDA-approved therapeutic cancer vaccine.

    Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2011 · 548 citations · Europe PMC · via sipuleucel-T

  4. 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

  5. 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.