SCTR as a Radioligand Therapy Target
SCTR, secretin receptor, is a cell-surface protein (GPCR). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, SCTR staining is highest in breast cancer (100% of samples positive), ovarian cancer (100% of samples positive) and cervical cancer (100% of samples positive). Evidence on whether SCTR internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is SCTR 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 breast cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ⚠️ 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.
SCTR expression in cancer
Protein expression of SCTR 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast Cancer | 0.92 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.91 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.88 | High | 100% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.85 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.83 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.82 | High | 91% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.79 | High | 91% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.77 | High | 90% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.70 | High | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.63 | High | 100% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 67% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 64% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.33 | Medium | 33% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.30 | Medium | 40% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 13% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: lymphoma, melanoma, glioma.
Is SCTR internalized?
Uncertain. The abstract discusses the use of β-arrestin2-GFP translocation and fluorescent ligand internalization assays to study SCTR but does not provide a definitive conclusion about whether SCTR undergoes internalization or endocytosis upon binding.
Sources: PMID 35327338. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
SCTR clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for SCTR yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for SCTR trials.
SCTR 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 SCTR in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
SCTR gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1228 cancer cell lines: -0.07 (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 breast cancer radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · FAP · HER2 (ERBB2) · STEAP2 · EGFR · B7-H3 (CD276) · SSTR2
See all radioligand therapy targets in breast cancer.
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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.