CHRNA7 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
CHRNA7, cholinergic receptor nicotinic alpha 7 subunit, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, CHRNA7 staining is highest in thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive), colorectal cancer (100% of samples positive) and melanoma (83% of samples positive). Published literature reports that CHRNA7 internalizes after ligand binding, which helps retain a radionuclide inside tumor cells. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is CHRNA7 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 thyroid cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ✅ Internalization: Reported to internalize, which favors radionuclide retention.
- ✅ 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.
CHRNA7 expression in cancer
Protein expression of CHRNA7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.70 | High | 100% |
| Melanoma | 0.69 | High | 83% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.64 | High | 91% |
| Glioma | 0.63 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.61 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.61 | High | 92% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.61 | High | 100% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.60 | High | 90% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.57 | High | 100% |
| Lymphoma | 0.44 | Medium | 75% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 82% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 82% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 73% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 64% |
Is CHRNA7 internalized?
Yes. CHRNA7 function is implicated in amyloid-β1-42 internalization through endocytosis.
Sources: PMID 24787912. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
CHRNA7 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for CHRNA7 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for CHRNA7 trials.
CHRNA7 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 CHRNA7 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
CHRNA7 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1257 cancer cell lines: 0.00 (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 thyroid cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · EPCAM · SSTR2 · EGFR · ITGAV · STEAP2 · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in thyroid 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.