ADRA2C as a Radioligand Therapy Target
ADRA2C, adrenoceptor alpha 2C, is a cell-surface protein (GPCR). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, ADRA2C staining is highest in cervical cancer (50% of samples positive), liver cancer (42% of samples positive) and skin cancer (25% of samples positive). Evidence on whether ADRA2C internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is ADRA2C 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: Medium IHC staining in cervical cancer, 50% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
ADRA2C expression in cancer
Protein expression of ADRA2C 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cervical Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 50% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 42% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.04 | Low | 13% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 10% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
| Melanoma | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: head and neck cancer, ovarian cancer, lymphoma, neuroendocrine tumors, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, glioma.
Is ADRA2C internalized?
Uncertain. The abstract discusses genetic polymorphisms and their association with ventricular fibrillation but does not provide clear evidence of ADRA2C undergoing internalization or endocytosis upon ligand or antibody binding.
Sources: PMID 36926933. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
ADRA2C clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for ADRA2C yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for ADRA2C trials.
ADRA2C 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 ADRA2C in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
ADRA2C gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1250 cancer cell lines: 0.02 (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 cervical cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · EGFR · HER3 (ERBB3) · CEA (CEACAM5) · SSTR2 · Mesothelin (MSLN) · ITGB6 · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in cervical 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.