ALDH1A3 Gene

HGNC Family	Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH)
Name	aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family, member A3
Description	This gene encodes an aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme that uses retinal as a substrate. Mutations in this gene have been associated with microphthalmia, isolated 8, and expression changes have also been detected in tumor cells. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jun 2014]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n ALDH1A3 is emerging as a key mediator of cancer stem cell function and tumor progression through its role in retinoic acid biosynthesis and metabolic reprogramming. In high‐grade gliomas, for example, mesenchymal glioma stem cells show pronounced enrichment of glycolytic and ALDH activity where ALDH1A3 supports aggressive growth and radioresistance; inhibition of this enzyme attenuates the mesenchymal phenotype and tumor proliferation."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In breast cancer, ALDH1A3 expression correlates strongly with cancer stem cell prevalence, with studies demonstrating that knockdown of ALDH1A3 uniformly reduces ALDH activity and is associated with higher tumor grade, metastasis, and poorer patient outcome."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In non‐small cell lung cancer, ALDH1A3 is identified as the predominant isozyme driving clonogenicity and tumorigenicity, and its suppression leads to decreased cancer stem cell properties."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Moreover, recent findings indicate that ALDH1A3-mediated retinoic acid production regulates downstream effectors such as the long noncoding RNA NRAD1, which further modulates gene expression programs that sustain cancer stem cell survival and tumor growth in triple-negative breast cancer."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "6"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Collectively, these studies establish ALDH1A3 not only as an important biomarker of cancer stem cells but also as a functional driver of tumor heterogeneity, metabolic adaptation, and resistance to therapy—making it an attractive target for novel therapeutic strategies.\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Ping Mao, Kaushal Joshi, Jianfeng Li, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mesenchymal glioma stem cells are maintained by activated glycolytic metabolism involving aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A3."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2013)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1073/pnas.1221478110"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221478110"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "23650391"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23650391"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Peng Cheng, Jia Wang, Indrayani Waghmare, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "FOXD1-ALDH1A3 Signaling Is a Determinant for the Self-Renewal and Tumorigenicity of Mesenchymal Glioma Stem Cells."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cancer Res (2016)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-2860"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-2860"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "27569208"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27569208"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Paola Marcato, Cheryl A Dean, Da Pan, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Aldehyde dehydrogenase activity of breast cancer stem cells is primarily due to isoform ALDH1A3 and its expression is predictive of metastasis."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Stem Cells (2011)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1002/stem.563"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/stem.563"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "21280157"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21280157"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Paola Marcato, Cheryl A Dean, Rong-Zong Liu, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A3 influences breast cancer progression via differential retinoic acid signaling."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Oncol (2015)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.molonc.2014.07.010"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molonc.2014.07.010"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "25106087"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25106087"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Chunli Shao, James P Sullivan, Luc Girard, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Essential role of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A3 for the maintenance of non-small cell lung cancer stem cells is associated with the STAT3 pathway."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Clin Cancer Res (2014)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-3292"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-3292"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24907115"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24907115"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Dejan Vidovic, Thomas T Huynh, Prathyusha Konda, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "ALDH1A3-regulated long non-coding RNA NRAD1 is a potential novel target for triple-negative breast tumors and cancer stem cells."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cell Death Differ (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/s41418-019-0362-1"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41418-019-0362-1"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "31197235"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31197235"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	ALDH1A6, MCOP8, RALDH3, ALDH6
Proteins	AL1A3_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	220
API
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Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

ALDH1A3 has 11,880 functional associations with biological entities spanning 8 categories (molecular profile, organism, chemical, disease, phenotype or trait, functional term, phrase or reference, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA) extracted from 136 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for ALDH1A3 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

ALDH1A3 Gene

Functional Associations

Please acknowledge the Harmonizome in your publications by citing the following reference(s):

	Dataset	Summary
	Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles	cell lines with fitness changed by ALDH1A3 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles	tissue samples with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray	tissue samples with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq	tissue samples with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other cell lines from the BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures	small molecule perturbations changing expression of ALDH1A3 gene from the Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with ALDH1A3 protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with ALDH1A3 gene from the CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of ALDH1A3 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of ALDH1A3 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022	transcription factors binding the promoter of ALDH1A3 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	ClinVar Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with ALDH1A3 gene from the curated ClinVar Gene-Phenotype Associations dataset.
	ClinVar Gene-Phenotype Associations 2025	phenotypes associated with ALDH1A3 gene from the curated ClinVar Gene-Phenotype Associations 2025 dataset.
	CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies	assemblies containing ALDH1A3 protein from integrated AP-MS and IF data from the CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies dataset.
	CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of ALDH1A3 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing ALDH1A3 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing ALDH1A3 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing ALDH1A3 protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing ALDH1A3 protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with ALDH1A3 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components co-occuring with ALDH1A3 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of ALDH1A3 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with ALDH1A3 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with ALDH1A3 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with ALDH1A3 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action	small molecule perturbations with high or low expression of ALDH1A3 protein relative to other small molecule perturbations from the DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by ALDH1A3 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases involving ALDH1A3 gene from the DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases involving ALDH1A3 gene from the DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases associated with ALDH1A3 gene in GWAS datasets from the DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases co-occuring with ALDH1A3 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases co-occuring with ALDH1A3 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with ALDH1A3 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.