EMCN as a Radioligand Therapy Target
EMCN, endomucin, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, EMCN staining is highest in breast cancer (92% of samples positive), thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive) and cervical cancer (92% of samples positive). Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is EMCN 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 breast cancer, 92% 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.
EMCN expression in cancer
Protein expression of EMCN 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast Cancer | 0.61 | High | 92% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.58 | High | 92% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Glioma | 0.55 | High | 100% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 91% |
| Lymphoma | 0.47 | Medium | 100% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.47 | Medium | 92% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.47 | Medium | 70% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 92% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 92% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.43 | Medium | 80% |
| Melanoma | 0.42 | Medium | 91% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.40 | Medium | 80% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 92% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.33 | Medium | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 75% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.13 | Low | 40% |
Is EMCN internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for EMCN. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
EMCN clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for EMCN yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for EMCN trials.
EMCN 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 EMCN in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
EMCN gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1231 cancer cell lines: 0.14 (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 breast cancer radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · FAP · HER2 (ERBB2) · STEAP2 · EGFR · B7-H3 (CD276) · SSTR2
See all radioligand therapy targets in breast cancer.
See how EMCN 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.