PTGER4 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
PTGER4, prostaglandin E receptor 4, is a cell-surface protein (GPCR). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, PTGER4 staining is highest in glioma (100% of samples positive), colorectal cancer (100% of samples positive) and breast cancer (100% of samples positive). Evidence on whether PTGER4 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality).
Is PTGER4 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 glioma, 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.
PTGER4 expression in cancer
Protein expression of PTGER4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glioma | 0.93 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.78 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.72 | High | 92% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.61 | High | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.58 | High | 92% |
| Melanoma | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.56 | High | 83% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.55 | High | 73% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.52 | High | 82% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.52 | High | 64% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 82% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 75% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 67% |
| Lymphoma | 0.08 | Low | 17% |
Is PTGER4 internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
PTGER4 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for PTGER4 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for PTGER4 trials.
PTGER4 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 PTGER4 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
PTGER4 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 glioma radioligand targets
EGFR · HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · ITGAV · B7-H3 (CD276) · SSTR2 · STEAP2 · FAP
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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.