HAVCR2

Overview

HAVCR2 (hepatitis A virus cellular receptor 2, also known as TIM-3) is an immune checkpoint receptor expressed on exhausted CD8+ T cells and certain antigen-presenting cells; it is a candidate target for combination checkpoint blockade strategies.

Alterations observed in the corpus

  • HAVCR2 (TIM3) is progressively upregulated on CD8+ T cells across HGSOC fallopian tube precursor stages (p53 signature → STIC.I → STIC.C → invasive cancer); also detected on a subset of HLA-DR+/CD40+ APCs in the 44-specimen CyCIF/GeoMx spatial atlas PMID:39386723.
  • Co-upregulated with PDCD1 (PD-1), LAG3, and CTLA4 as exhaustion markers on CD8+ T cells during HGSOC precursor evolution PMID:39386723.
  • HAVCR2 (TIM-3) is a compensatory immune checkpoint in NPC; the anti-TIM-3 antibody TQB2618 combined with penpulimab showed 0% ORR in N=17 NPC patients. PMID:24952746
  • Selectively upregulated on-therapy at week 4 in responders (CR/PR) to nivolumab in advanced melanoma (CA209-038 trial, n=68); nominated alongside OX40, TIGIT, and VISTA as candidate combination immunotherapy targets. PMID:29033130

Cancer types (linked)

  • HGSOC — TIM3/HAVCR2 marks progressively exhausted CD8+ T cells from early precursor (STIC.I) through invasive cancer stages in the fallopian tube epithelium spatial atlas PMID:39386723.

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

  • Co-expressed with PDCD1, LAG3, and CTLA4 in the T-cell exhaustion program that accumulates through HGSOC precursor stages PMID:39386723.

Therapeutic relevance

  • As part of the progressive T-cell exhaustion landscape in HGSOC precursors, HAVCR2/TIM3 represents a potential combination checkpoint blockade target; however, no therapeutic intervention targeting HAVCR2 was tested in this study PMID:39386723.

Open questions

  • Whether blocking HAVCR2/TIM3 alongside NKG2A at early precursor stages could prevent immune evasion in HGSOC has not been experimentally tested PMID:39386723.

Sources

This page was processed by entity-page-writer on 2026-05-11. - PMID:24952746

This page was processed by entity-page-writer on 2026-05-11. - PMID:29033130

This page was processed by entity-page-writer on 2026-05-15.