TROP2 (TACSTD2) as a Radioligand Therapy Target
TROP2 (TACSTD2), tumor associated calcium signal transducer 2, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, TROP2 staining is highest in skin cancer (73% of samples positive), cervical cancer (64% of samples positive) and thyroid cancer (67% of samples positive). Evidence on whether TROP2 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is TROP2 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: Medium IHC staining in skin cancer, 73% 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.
TROP2 expression in cancer
Protein expression of TROP2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skin Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 73% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 64% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 67% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.30 | Medium | 55% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.23 | Medium | 50% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 50% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.12 | Low | 27% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 33% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 9% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: lymphoma, breast cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, testicular cancer, glioma.
Is TROP2 internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
TROP2 clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for TROP2 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for TROP2 trials.
TROP2 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 TROP2 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
TROP2 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1253 cancer cell lines: -0.09 (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 skin cancer radioligand targets
EGFR · c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · B7-H3 (CD276) · SSTR2 · ITGB6 · HER2 (ERBB2) · ITGAV
See all radioligand therapy targets in skin 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.