TGFA as a Radioligand Therapy Target
TGFA, transforming growth factor alpha, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, TGFA staining is highest in thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive), pancreatic cancer (100% of samples positive) and prostate cancer (100% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality).
Is TGFA 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 2, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
TGFA expression in cancer
Protein expression of TGFA 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 | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.70 | High | 100% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.67 | High | 92% |
| Melanoma | 0.67 | High | 91% |
| Glioma | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.56 | High | 92% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 91% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 73% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 73% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.47 | Medium | 75% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.46 | Medium | 91% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 50% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.40 | Medium | 60% |
| Lymphoma | 0.36 | Medium | 75% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 64% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.33 | Medium | 50% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.25 | Medium | 50% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 42% |
Is TGFA internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for TGFA. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
TGFA clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for TGFA yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for TGFA trials.
TGFA 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 TGFA in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
TGFA gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1256 cancer cell lines: 0.01 (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.