HAVCR2 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
HAVCR2, hepatitis A virus cellular receptor 2, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, HAVCR2 staining is highest in thyroid cancer (33% of samples positive), kidney cancer (18% of samples positive) and head and neck cancer (25% of samples positive). Evidence on whether HAVCR2 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is HAVCR2 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: Low IHC staining in thyroid cancer, 33% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ✅ 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.
HAVCR2 expression in cancer
Protein expression of HAVCR2 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 | 0.11 | Low | 33% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.09 | Low | 18% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
Not detected by IHC in: skin cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, lymphoma, breast cancer, melanoma, bladder cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, cervical cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, testicular cancer, endometrial cancer, glioma, liver cancer.
Is HAVCR2 internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
HAVCR2 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for HAVCR2 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for HAVCR2 trials.
HAVCR2 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 HAVCR2 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
HAVCR2 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1252 cancer cell lines: 0.02 (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.
See how HAVCR2 ranks against 15,000 targets for your indication.
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.