NTRK3 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
NTRK3, neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 3, is a cell-surface protein (RTK). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, NTRK3 staining is highest in cervical cancer (64% of samples positive), colorectal cancer (64% of samples positive) and lymphoma (67% of samples positive). Evidence on whether NTRK3 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is NTRK3 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 cervical cancer, 64% 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.
NTRK3 expression in cancer
Protein expression of NTRK3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cervical Cancer | 0.27 | Medium | 64% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 64% |
| Lymphoma | 0.22 | Medium | 67% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.21 | Medium | 27% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.20 | Medium | 50% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 38% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.15 | Low | 27% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.12 | Low | 36% |
| Glioma | 0.12 | Low | 36% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 33% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 33% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.09 | Low | 27% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 18% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 8% |
| Melanoma | 0.03 | Low | 9% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: head and neck cancer, endometrial cancer.
Is NTRK3 internalized?
Uncertain. The abstract mentions regulation of genes involved in receptor endocytosis, but it does not provide direct evidence that NTRK3 itself undergoes internalization or endocytosis upon ligand or antibody binding.
Sources: PMID 25423262. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
NTRK3 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for NTRK3 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for NTRK3 trials.
NTRK3 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 NTRK3 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
NTRK3 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1250 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 cervical cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · EGFR · HER3 (ERBB3) · CEA (CEACAM5) · SSTR2 · Mesothelin (MSLN) · ITGB6 · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in cervical cancer.
See how NTRK3 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.