NGEF as a Radioligand Therapy Target
NGEF, neuronal guanine nucleotide exchange factor, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, NGEF staining is highest in colorectal cancer (100% of samples positive), gastric cancer (100% of samples positive) and endometrial cancer (100% of samples positive). Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is NGEF 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 colorectal cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ⚠️ 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.
NGEF expression in cancer
Protein expression of NGEF 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.61 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.55 | High | 100% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 100% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 100% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 92% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 92% |
| Melanoma | 0.44 | Medium | 92% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.42 | Medium | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 100% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 100% |
| Glioma | 0.36 | Medium | 92% |
| Lymphoma | 0.33 | Medium | 92% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 75% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.30 | Medium | 82% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 25% |
Is NGEF internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for NGEF. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
NGEF clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for NGEF yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for NGEF trials.
NGEF 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 NGEF in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
NGEF gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1257 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 colorectal cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · FAP · EGFR · CEA (CEACAM5) · EPCAM · SSTR2 · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in colorectal cancer.
See how NGEF ranks against 15,000 targets for your indication.
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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.