TREM1 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
TREM1, triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, TREM1 staining is highest in head and neck cancer (100% of samples positive), kidney cancer (100% of samples positive) and cervical cancer (100% of samples positive). Evidence on whether TREM1 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality).
Is TREM1 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 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.
TREM1 expression in cancer
Protein expression of TREM1 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 | 0.83 | High | 100% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.81 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.78 | High | 100% |
| Glioma | 0.77 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.76 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.74 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.72 | High | 92% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.70 | High | 91% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.69 | High | 100% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.64 | High | 92% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.60 | High | 90% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.58 | High | 83% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.57 | High | 90% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.56 | High | 92% |
| Melanoma | 0.55 | High | 82% |
| Lymphoma | 0.33 | Medium | 58% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 33% |
Is TREM1 internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
Sources: PMID 40431622 · PMID 36865547 · PMID 36655999 · PMID 30601330. AI-extracted from abstracts, so verify before citing.
TREM1 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for TREM1 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for TREM1 trials.
TREM1 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 TREM1 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
TREM1 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1243 cancer cell lines: 0.00 (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 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.
See how TREM1 ranks against 15,000 targets for your indication.
Run a free analysisData sources
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.