DTNA as a Radioligand Therapy Target
DTNA, dystrobrevin alpha, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, DTNA staining is highest in thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive), glioma (89% of samples positive) and prostate cancer (91% of samples positive). Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is DTNA 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: Not yet assessed.
- ⚠️ 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.
DTNA expression in cancer
Protein expression of DTNA 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 | 0.78 | High | 100% |
| Glioma | 0.63 | High | 89% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.58 | High | 91% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.46 | Medium | 82% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.46 | Medium | 73% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 64% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 75% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 83% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.33 | Medium | 75% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 58% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.27 | Medium | 64% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 36% |
| Melanoma | 0.23 | Medium | 60% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.18 | Low | 46% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 33% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.15 | Low | 18% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.09 | Low | 27% |
Not detected by IHC in: lymphoma.
Is DTNA internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for DTNA. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
DTNA clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for DTNA yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for DTNA trials.
DTNA 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 DTNA in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
DTNA gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1258 cancer cell lines: 0.12 (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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Run a free analysisData 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.