Researchers Discover New Cancer-Fighting Antibody Target

UCSF scientists find SRC enzyme on surface of tumor cells, enabling new immunotherapy approaches.

Mar. 14, 2026 at 11:10am by Ben Kaplan

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Researchers at UC San Francisco have discovered that the notorious cancer-causing enzyme SRC appears on the surface of certain tumor cells, including bladder, colorectal, breast, and pancreatic cancers. This unexpected finding allows scientists to target SRC with antibody-based therapies that can seek out and destroy cancer cells.

Why it matters

For decades, scientists have known about the cancer-driving SRC enzyme but were unable to effectively target it with drugs since it resides inside cells. The new discovery that SRC appears on the cell surface in many tumor types opens up possibilities for using proven immunotherapy approaches to attack this key cancer-causing protein.

The details

As cancer cells rapidly divide, they produce a lot of cellular waste that overwhelms the normal recycling system. This causes the SRC enzyme to get swept up and expelled to the cell surface, where it acts like a red flag that can be recognized by antibody-based therapies. Researchers have developed experimental antibodies that can either carry radioactive payloads to kill cancer cells or help the immune system identify and destroy tumors expressing SRC on their surface.

  • In the 1970s, UCSF researchers J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus identified the SRC gene as the first known cancer-causing oncogene.
  • On March 12, 2026, the new findings on SRC's presence on the tumor cell surface were published in the journal Science.

The players

UC San Francisco (UCSF)

A leading academic medical center and research university located in San Francisco, California.

Jim Wells, PhD

Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF and senior author of the paper published in Science.

Corleone Delaveris, PhD

First author of the paper, who conducted the research as a post-doctoral researcher in Wells' lab and is now at Inversion Therapeutics.

Michael Evans, PhD

UCSF professor of Radiology who collaborated with the team on developing experimental radioactive antibody therapies.

Inversion Therapeutics

A biopharmaceutical company that has licensed the antibodies and related molecules from UCSF to explore their therapeutic potential.

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What they’re saying

“No one thought to look for it on the outside, said Jim Wells , PhD, professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF and senior author of the paper, which appears in Science on March 12. "Our discovery enables us to test proven immunotherapies on this new tumor target.”

— Jim Wells, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, UCSF (Science)

“We saw that SRC was getting swept out onto the outer membrane, where it sat exposed like a red flag," said Corleone Delaveris, PhD, first author of the paper, who did the work as a post-doctoral researcher in Wells' lab and is now at Inversion Therapeutics.”

— Corleone Delaveris, First author, post-doctoral researcher (Science)

What’s next

UCSF has licensed the antibodies and related molecules to Inversion Therapeutics to explore their therapeutic potential in further preclinical and clinical studies.

The takeaway

The discovery that the cancer-driving SRC enzyme appears on the surface of many tumor types opens up new possibilities for using targeted antibody therapies to attack this key oncogenic protein, potentially leading to more effective cancer treatments.