CA2: IHC Expression in Cancer and Radioligand Target Profile
CA2, carbonic anhydrase 2, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, CA2 staining is highest in liver cancer (30% of samples positive), gastric cancer (20% of samples positive) and pancreatic cancer (25% of samples positive). Clinical status: FDA-approved drug (any modality).
Is CA2 the right target for your program? Rank it against 15,000 targets on dosimetry, internalization and clinical risk.
Analyze CA2 freeIs CA2 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 liver cancer, 30% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: FDA-approved drug (any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
CA2 IHC staining by cancer type
Protein expression of CA2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liver Cancer | 0.20 | Medium | 30% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.20 | Medium | 20% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 25% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.12 | Low | 36% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 17% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 17% |
| Glioma | 0.08 | Low | 8% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 9% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 9% |
Not detected by IHC in: colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, kidney cancer, thyroid cancer, bladder cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, lung cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer.
Is CA2 internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for CA2. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a free analysis to pull the latest literature.
CA2 clinical trials
FDA-approved drug (any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for CA2 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for CA2 trials.
CA2 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 CA2 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
CA2 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 liver cancer radioligand targets
EGFR · c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · SSTR2 · STEAP2 · HER2 (ERBB2) · Mesothelin (MSLN) · B7-H3 (CD276)
See all radioligand therapy targets in liver cancer.
See how CA2 ranks against 15,000 targets for your indication.
Analyze CA2 freeData sources
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.