ADGRL1 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
ADGRL1, adhesion G protein-coupled receptor L1, is a cell-surface protein (GPCR). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, ADGRL1 staining is highest in prostate cancer (100% of samples positive), colorectal cancer (100% of samples positive) and neuroendocrine tumors (100% of samples positive). Published literature reports that ADGRL1 internalizes after ligand binding, which helps retain a radionuclide inside tumor cells. Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is ADGRL1 a good radioligand therapy target?
Scored against the six criteria that decide whether a protein can become a radioligand therapy:
- ✅ Cell-surface accessibility: Localized to the cell surface, so a radioligand can reach it from circulation.
- ✅ Tumor expression: High IHC staining in prostate cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ✅ Internalization: Reported to internalize, which favors radionuclide retention.
- ⚠️ Clinical precedent: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
ADGRL1 expression in cancer
Protein expression of ADGRL1 across 20 cancer types from Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry. The score is a weighted staining intensity from 0 to 1; "% positive" is the share of patient samples with detectable staining.
| Cancer type | IHC score | Level | % positive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prostate Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.94 | High | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.83 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.82 | High | 91% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.78 | High | 83% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.76 | High | 91% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.75 | High | 92% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.73 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.73 | High | 90% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.73 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.63 | High | 80% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.56 | High | 67% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.53 | High | 75% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 50% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.43 | Medium | 60% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.27 | Medium | 46% |
| Melanoma | 0.03 | Low | 10% |
Not detected by IHC in: skin cancer, lymphoma, glioma.
Is ADGRL1 internalized?
Yes. Prolonged stimulation with neurexin1β promoted receptor internalization into βarr-positive vesicles with splice variant-dependent trafficking kinetics.
Sources: PMID 41819453 · PMID 40711170. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
ADGRL1 clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for ADGRL1 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for ADGRL1 trials.
ADGRL1 normal tissue expression
Normal-tissue expression in dose-limiting organs (kidney, liver, bone marrow, salivary glands) drives radioligand dosimetry risk. Nuclens is re-validating its normal-tissue values, so they are not shown here yet. See ADGRL1 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
ADGRL1 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1258 cancer cell lines: 0.04 (not essential). Radioligands kill by radiation, not by blocking the target, so essentiality matters less than for inhibitors. A non-essential target can still be an excellent radioligand target.
Related prostate cancer radioligand targets
PSMA (FOLH1) · HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · EGFR · EPCAM · FAP · B7-H3 (CD276) · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in prostate cancer.
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Subcellular localization: UniProt via Open Targets (CC BY 4.0 / CC0). Tumor immunohistochemistry: Human Protein Atlas (CC BY-SA 4.0). Clinical trials: ClinicalTrials.gov (public domain). Gene essentiality: DepMap (CC BY 4.0). Internalization and shedding: AI-extracted from PubMed abstracts, so verify against the cited papers before relying on them. Nuclens is a first-pass triage layer, not a substitute for wet-lab validation or clinical dosimetry. Derived expression data on this page is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.