TFRC as a Radioligand Therapy Target
TFRC, transferrin receptor, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, TFRC staining is highest in head and neck cancer (100% of samples positive), skin cancer (100% of samples positive) and cervical cancer (92% of samples positive). Evidence on whether TFRC internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 1, any modality).
Is TFRC 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 head and neck cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: Clinical-stage (up to phase 1, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
TFRC expression in cancer
Protein expression of TFRC 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head and Neck Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.76 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.75 | High | 92% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.73 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.64 | High | 83% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.53 | High | 83% |
| Glioma | 0.52 | High | 91% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 91% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.47 | Medium | 83% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.41 | Medium | 67% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 55% |
| Lymphoma | 0.36 | Medium | 58% |
| Melanoma | 0.33 | Medium | 57% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.31 | Medium | 58% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.30 | Medium | 46% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.25 | Medium | 50% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.25 | Medium | 42% |
Not detected by IHC in: neuroendocrine tumors, prostate cancer, testicular cancer.
Is TFRC internalized?
Uncertain. The abstract does not provide clear information about TFRC's internalization or endocytosis; it primarily discusses the roles of Atg8-family proteins in autophagic processes without mentioning TFRC's function specifically.
Sources: PMID 42178909 · PMID 41566817 · PMID 41558617 · PMID 41195589 · PMID 41194602. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
TFRC clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 1, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for TFRC yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for TFRC trials.
TFRC 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 TFRC in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
TFRC gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1258 cancer cell lines: -0.94 (essential, below −0.5). 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 head and neck cancer radioligand targets
EGFR · c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · ITGAV · SSTR2 · B7-H3 (CD276) · STEAP2 · Mesothelin (MSLN)
See all radioligand therapy targets in head and neck 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.