TAAR1 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
TAAR1, trace amine associated receptor 1, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, TAAR1 staining is highest in thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive), breast cancer (100% of samples positive) and ovarian cancer (100% of samples positive). Evidence on whether TAAR1 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is TAAR1 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: 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.
TAAR1 expression in cancer
Protein expression of TAAR1 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 | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.85 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.81 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.81 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.74 | High | 100% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.73 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.73 | High | 91% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.73 | High | 91% |
| Glioma | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.64 | High | 92% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.64 | High | 83% |
| Melanoma | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.58 | High | 92% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.57 | High | 90% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 73% |
| Lymphoma | 0.36 | Medium | 67% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.31 | Medium | 58% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.22 | Medium | 33% |
Is TAAR1 internalized?
Uncertain. The abstract mentions RhoA-mediated effects, including effects on internalization of DAT and EAAT3 but does not directly specify whether TAAR1 itself undergoes internalization upon ligand/antibody binding.
Sources: PMID 42016024 · PMID 35887159 · PMID 32074633 · PMID 31912366 · PMID 19364908. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
TAAR1 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for TAAR1 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for TAAR1 trials.
TAAR1 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 TAAR1 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
TAAR1 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1216 cancer cell lines: 0.10 (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.
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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.