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TLR7 is an innate immune sensor for viral RNA; the cream imiquimod switches it on to make the skin's immune cells attack superficial basal cell carcinoma.
Toll-like receptor 7 sits in the endosomes of plasmacytoid dendritic cells and other immune cells and recognises single-stranded RNA. Imiquimod is a synthetic TLR7 agonist applied as a cream: it triggers interferon-alpha and other cytokines locally, recruiting an immune response that clears superficial basal cell carcinoma, actinic keratoses and genital warts. TLR7 and TLR8 agonists are also being tested as injectable immune adjuvants in solid tumours.
In plain words · TLR7 is an innate immune sensor for viral RNA; the cream imiquimod switches it on to make the skin's immune cells attack superficial basal cell carcinoma.
TLR7 is an innate immune sensor for viral RNA; the cream imiquimod switches it on to make the skin's immune cells attack superficial basal cell carcinoma.
An endosomal pattern-recognition receptor signalling through MyD88 to NF-kB and IRF7, driving type I interferon production.
1 product aims at Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7): small molecules. Drugs bind the molecule precisely: to switch it off, flag the cell for the immune system, or deliver a payload.
Immune or microenvironment target: its medicines act on immune, stromal or bone cells rather than on the tumour cell (drug mechanisms in the corpus). HPA TLR7: RNA tissue enhanced (placenta 6 nTPM); high antibody staining in 1 normal tissue. Distribution: 1 cancer family in the corpus carries a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Skin cancer (all types)); Open Targets associates it with 2 specific cancer types at or above 0.5 (actinic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma); the corpus evidence decides and the Open Targets list is quoted for comparison. (Rule 1 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)
Sources: Human Protein Atlas TLR7 tissue; UniProt Q9NYK1; Open Targets ENSG00000196664 associations
First described 2000. Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Du et al, Eur. Cytokine Netw, 2000, "Three novel mammalian Toll-like receptors: gene structure, expression, and evolution". Source.
An endosomal pattern-recognition receptor signalling through MyD88 to NF-kB and IRF7, driving type I interferon production.
RNA: tissue enhanced (placenta 6 nTPM), detected in many normal tissues.
Medium: Appendix, Cerebellum, Lymph node, Rectum, Spleen, Tonsil.
No cancer stained high; medium in endometrial cancer, glioma, lung cancer, melanoma.
HPA TLR7 tissue · HPA TLR7 pathology · HPA protein class: FDA approved drug targets
Human Protein Atlas version 25.1, antibody staining at reliability approved, enhanced or supported; used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Staining counts are patients per level in the atlas cohort, not population prevalence.
| Cancer | Prevalence | Measure | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metastatic cancer | immune% | Immune-cell target (innate immune sensor in skin and immune cells, switched on by imiquimod): expressed on immune cells rather than on the tumour, so patient selection rests on the cancer type and, in trials, on PD-L1 or immune biomarkers. |
Approximate, population-level figures; the measure column says what was counted. Ranges show the midpoint as a bar.
Imiquimod (Aldara) is a cream that provokes the skin's own immune system to clear superficial basal cell carcinomas and the sun-damage patches (actinic keratoses) that can turn into skin cancer.
Query for this target: (TITLE:"Toll-like receptor 7" OR ABSTRACT:"Toll-like receptor 7" OR TITLE:"TLR7" OR ABSTRACT:"TLR7") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7), not a curated reading list.
Shares Imiquimod, Basal cell carcinoma.
Shares Imiquimod, Basal cell carcinoma.
Shares Imiquimod, Basal cell carcinoma.
Shares Imiquimod, Basal cell carcinoma.
Shares Imiquimod, Basal cell carcinoma.