GHR: IHC Expression in Cancer and Radioligand Target Profile
GHR, growth hormone receptor, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, GHR staining is highest in liver cancer (75% of samples positive), endometrial cancer (92% of samples positive) and kidney cancer (58% of samples positive). Evidence on whether GHR internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: FDA-approved drug (any modality).
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Analyze GHR freeIs GHR 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, 75% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ✅ 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.
GHR IHC staining by cancer type
Protein expression of GHR 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 | 0.58 | High | 75% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.53 | High | 92% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 58% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 58% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.25 | Medium | 75% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.19 | Low | 42% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.18 | Low | 46% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 25% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.12 | Low | 27% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.09 | Low | 18% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 18% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 17% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: skin cancer, head and neck cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, testicular cancer, glioma.
Is GHR internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
Sources: PMID 35384615 · PMID 35171434 · PMID 34866251 · PMID 33312162 · PMID 32114520. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
GHR clinical trials
FDA-approved drug (any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for GHR yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for GHR trials.
GHR 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 GHR in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
GHR gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1253 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 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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Analyze GHR 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.