ADGRL3 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
ADGRL3, adhesion G protein-coupled receptor L3, is a cell-surface protein (GPCR). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, ADGRL3 staining is highest in breast cancer (100% of samples positive), pancreatic cancer (100% of samples positive) and colorectal cancer (83% of samples positive). Evidence on whether ADGRL3 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is ADGRL3 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 breast cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ⚠️ 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.
ADGRL3 expression in cancer
Protein expression of ADGRL3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.63 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.61 | High | 83% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.52 | High | 91% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 83% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.47 | Medium | 92% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.46 | Medium | 82% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 67% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 100% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 83% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.37 | Medium | 67% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.33 | Medium | 75% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 73% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 46% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 36% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 33% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.15 | Low | 46% |
| Glioma | 0.14 | Low | 25% |
| Lymphoma | 0.12 | Low | 36% |
| Melanoma | 0.03 | Low | 9% |
Is ADGRL3 internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
ADGRL3 clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for ADGRL3 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for ADGRL3 trials.
ADGRL3 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 ADGRL3 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
ADGRL3 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1254 cancer cell lines: -0.03 (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 breast cancer radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · FAP · HER2 (ERBB2) · STEAP2 · EGFR · B7-H3 (CD276) · SSTR2
See all radioligand therapy targets in breast 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.