LPAR2 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
LPAR2, lysophosphatidic acid receptor 2, is a cell-surface protein (GPCR). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, LPAR2 staining is highest in prostate cancer (100% of samples positive), head and neck cancer (100% of samples positive) and thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive). Published literature reports that LPAR2 internalizes after ligand binding, which helps retain a radionuclide inside tumor cells. Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is LPAR2 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 prostate cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ✅ Internalization: Reported to internalize, which favors radionuclide retention.
- ⚠️ 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.
LPAR2 expression in cancer
Protein expression of LPAR2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prostate Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Melanoma | 0.59 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.58 | High | 91% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.55 | High | 91% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 80% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.50 | Medium | 75% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 73% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 64% |
| Lymphoma | 0.39 | Medium | 75% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 73% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 70% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 64% |
| Glioma | 0.23 | Medium | 50% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 50% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.20 | Medium | 60% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.19 | Low | 50% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.18 | Low | 46% |
Is LPAR2 internalized?
Yes. the level of cell-cell adhesion is precisely regulated by internalization of N-cadherin downstream of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptor 2.
Sources: PMID 25002680. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
LPAR2 clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for LPAR2 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for LPAR2 trials.
LPAR2 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 LPAR2 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
Related prostate cancer radioligand targets
PSMA (FOLH1) · HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · EGFR · EPCAM · FAP · B7-H3 (CD276) · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in prostate 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.