P2RX7 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
P2RX7, purinergic receptor P2X 7, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, P2RX7 staining is highest in melanoma (100% of samples positive), breast cancer (92% of samples positive) and prostate cancer (100% of samples positive). Evidence on whether P2RX7 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality).
Is P2RX7 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 melanoma, 100% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
P2RX7 expression in cancer
Protein expression of P2RX7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melanoma | 0.79 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.53 | High | 92% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.52 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.40 | Medium | 70% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 82% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.27 | Medium | 64% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 55% |
| Glioma | 0.24 | Medium | 55% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 46% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.21 | Medium | 46% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.18 | Low | 36% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 50% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 25% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.09 | Low | 27% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 17% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 18% |
| Lymphoma | 0.06 | Low | 17% |
Not detected by IHC in: thyroid cancer, testicular cancer.
Is P2RX7 internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
Sources: PMID 40473221 · PMID 40315262 · PMID 29018292 · PMID 28495929. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
P2RX7 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for P2RX7 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for P2RX7 trials.
P2RX7 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 P2RX7 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
P2RX7 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1256 cancer cell lines: -0.12 (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 melanoma radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · STEAP2 · SSTR2 · B7-H3 (CD276) · ITGAV · TMEFF2 · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in melanoma.
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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.