CEA (CEACAM5) as a Radioligand Therapy Target
CEA (CEACAM5), CEA cell adhesion molecule 5, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, CEA staining is highest in colorectal cancer (100% of samples positive), gastric cancer (91% of samples positive) and lung cancer (91% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is CEA 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 colorectal cancer, 100% 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.
CEA expression in cancer
Protein expression of CEA 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.87 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.73 | High | 91% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.67 | High | 91% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.64 | High | 91% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.58 | High | 91% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 67% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 75% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.30 | Medium | 56% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.19 | Low | 29% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 30% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.09 | Low | 27% |
Not detected by IHC in: lymphoma, breast cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, glioma.
Is CEA internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for CEA. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
CEA clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for CEA yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for CEA trials.
CEA 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 CEA in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
CEA gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1245 cancer cell lines: 0.06 (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 colorectal cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · FAP · EGFR · EPCAM · SSTR2 · STEAP2 · HER2 (ERBB2)
See all radioligand therapy targets in colorectal cancer.
See how CEA 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.