AMFR as a Radioligand Therapy Target
AMFR, autocrine motility factor receptor, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, AMFR staining is highest in head and neck cancer (100% of samples positive), ovarian cancer (100% of samples positive) and lymphoma (100% of samples positive). Published literature reports that AMFR internalizes after ligand binding, which helps retain a radionuclide inside tumor cells. Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is AMFR 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 head and neck 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.
AMFR expression in cancer
Protein expression of AMFR 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head and Neck Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Lymphoma | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Melanoma | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Prostate Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.97 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.97 | High | 100% |
| Glioma | 0.97 | High | 100% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.94 | High | 100% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.94 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.93 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.93 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.92 | High | 92% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.91 | High | 100% |
Is AMFR internalized?
Yes. Gp78/AMFR expression and AMF internalization were measured in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) cell lines, with results showing elevated AMF internalization, indicating receptor endocytosis.
Sources: PMID 31431834 · PMID 18974847 · PMID 17690101 · PMID 11724808 · PMID 10954421. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
AMFR clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for AMFR yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for AMFR trials.
AMFR 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 AMFR in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
AMFR gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1258 cancer cell lines: -0.17 (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 head and neck cancer radioligand targets
EGFR · c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · ITGAV · SSTR2 · B7-H3 (CD276) · STEAP2 · Mesothelin (MSLN)
See all radioligand therapy targets in head and neck 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.