EPHA7 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
EPHA7, EPH receptor A7, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, EPHA7 staining is highest in liver cancer (91% of samples positive), ovarian cancer (82% of samples positive) and prostate cancer (92% of samples positive). Evidence on whether EPHA7 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is EPHA7 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 liver cancer, 91% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ⚠️ 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.
EPHA7 expression in cancer
Protein expression of EPHA7 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 | 0.52 | High | 91% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.52 | High | 82% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 92% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 89% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.46 | Medium | 73% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 82% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 73% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.40 | Medium | 70% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 58% |
| Melanoma | 0.33 | Medium | 55% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 50% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.29 | Medium | 50% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.25 | Medium | 50% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.23 | Medium | 50% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 50% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.12 | Low | 27% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 17% |
Not detected by IHC in: lymphoma, neuroendocrine tumors, glioma.
Is EPHA7 internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
Sources: PMID 23657875. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
EPHA7 clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for EPHA7 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for EPHA7 trials.
EPHA7 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 EPHA7 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
EPHA7 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1253 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.
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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.