CD38 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
CD38, CD38 molecule, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, CD38 staining is highest in prostate cancer (17% of samples positive), thyroid cancer (25% of samples positive) and lymphoma (8% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality), with 4 active clinical trials.
Is CD38 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: Low IHC staining in prostate cancer, 17% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
CD38 expression in cancer
Protein expression of CD38 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prostate Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 17% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Lymphoma | 0.08 | Low | 8% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.07 | Low | 20% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 9% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: skin cancer, colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer, ovarian cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, endometrial cancer, glioma.
Is CD38 internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for CD38. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
CD38 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). 4 active trials reference CD38 (ClinicalTrials.gov, accessed 2026-08-31).
NCT05995041 · NCT03222674 · NCT07782944 · NCT04016129
CD38 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 CD38 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
CD38 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1253 cancer cell lines: 0.03 (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 prostate cancer radioligand targets
PSMA (FOLH1) · HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · EGFR · EPCAM · FAP · B7-H3 (CD276) · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in prostate cancer.
See how CD38 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.