LHCGR as a Radioligand Therapy Target
LHCGR, luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor, is a cell-surface protein (GPCR). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, LHCGR staining is highest in neuroendocrine tumors (75% of samples positive), kidney cancer (91% of samples positive) and thyroid cancer (67% of samples positive). Published literature reports that LHCGR internalizes after ligand binding, which helps retain a radionuclide inside tumor cells. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is LHCGR 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: Medium IHC staining in neuroendocrine tumors, 75% 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.
LHCGR expression in cancer
Protein expression of LHCGR 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.50 | Medium | 75% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 91% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 67% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 73% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 67% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 82% |
| Melanoma | 0.33 | Medium | 70% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.31 | Medium | 50% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.30 | Medium | 73% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 67% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 58% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 50% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.25 | Medium | 67% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 46% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 50% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 42% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 33% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 9% |
Not detected by IHC in: lymphoma, glioma.
Is LHCGR internalized?
Yes. LH induces rapid internalization and recycling via an APPL1-linked very early endosomal pathway.
Sources: PMID 40517872 · PMID 39590380 · PMID 33042017 · PMID 29063275 · PMID 27061682. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
LHCGR clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for LHCGR yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for LHCGR trials.
LHCGR 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 LHCGR in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
LHCGR gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1221 cancer cell lines: 0.07 (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 neuroendocrine tumors radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · SSTR2 · STEAP2 · EPCAM · ITGB6 · KIT · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in neuroendocrine tumors.
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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.