DPP4: IHC Expression in Cancer and Radioligand Target Profile
DPP4, dipeptidyl peptidase 4, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, DPP4 staining is highest in thyroid cancer (75% of samples positive), prostate cancer (73% of samples positive) and neuroendocrine tumors (75% of samples positive). Clinical status: FDA-approved drug (any modality).
Is DPP4 the right target for your program? Rank it against 15,000 targets on dosimetry, internalization and clinical risk.
Analyze DPP4 freeIs DPP4 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 thyroid cancer, 75% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: FDA-approved drug (any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
DPP4 IHC staining by cancer type
Protein expression of DPP4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.67 | High | 75% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.61 | High | 73% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.58 | High | 75% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.58 | High | 73% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.52 | High | 64% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 58% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.20 | Medium | 30% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 25% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.15 | Low | 27% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.13 | Low | 30% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.10 | Low | 30% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 9% |
Not detected by IHC in: skin cancer, lymphoma, breast cancer, melanoma, bladder cancer, cervical cancer, testicular cancer, glioma.
Is DPP4 internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for DPP4. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a free analysis to pull the latest literature.
DPP4 clinical trials
FDA-approved drug (any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for DPP4 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for DPP4 trials.
DPP4 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 DPP4 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
DPP4 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1256 cancer cell lines: 0.05 (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 thyroid cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · SSTR2 · EPCAM · EGFR · ITGAV · STEAP2 · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in thyroid cancer.
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Analyze DPP4 freeData 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.