SCN9A as a Radioligand Therapy Target
SCN9A, sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 9, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, SCN9A staining is highest in thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive), cervical cancer (100% of samples positive) and endometrial cancer (90% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is SCN9A 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 thyroid cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ✅ 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.
SCN9A expression in cancer
Protein expression of SCN9A 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.78 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.63 | High | 90% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.59 | High | 89% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.58 | High | 92% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.57 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.56 | High | 89% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 75% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.50 | Medium | 75% |
| Melanoma | 0.47 | Medium | 83% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 83% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 91% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 82% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 73% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 64% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 75% |
| Lymphoma | 0.28 | Medium | 50% |
| Glioma | 0.27 | Medium | 64% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.15 | Low | 27% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 17% |
Is SCN9A internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for SCN9A. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
SCN9A clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for SCN9A yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for SCN9A trials.
SCN9A 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 SCN9A in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
SCN9A gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1258 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 thyroid cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · EPCAM · SSTR2 · EGFR · ITGAV · STEAP2 · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in thyroid cancer.
See how SCN9A ranks against 15,000 targets for your indication.
Run a free analysisData sources
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.