DLK1 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
DLK1, delta like non-canonical Notch ligand 1, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, DLK1 staining is highest in endometrial cancer (36% of samples positive), thyroid cancer (25% of samples positive) and skin cancer (10% of samples positive). Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is DLK1 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 endometrial cancer, 36% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ⚠️ Clinical precedent: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
DLK1 expression in cancer
Protein expression of DLK1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.15 | Low | 36% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.07 | Low | 10% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 18% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 9% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 8% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 9% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, cervical cancer, gastric cancer, glioma, liver cancer.
Is DLK1 internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for DLK1. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
DLK1 clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for DLK1 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for DLK1 trials.
DLK1 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 DLK1 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
DLK1 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1242 cancer cell lines: -0.15 (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 endometrial cancer radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · EGFR · EPCAM · B7-H3 (CD276) · SSTR2 · ITGAV · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in endometrial cancer.
See how DLK1 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.