ITM2B as a Radioligand Therapy Target
ITM2B, integral membrane protein 2B, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, ITM2B staining is highest in thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive), endometrial cancer (100% of samples positive) and pancreatic cancer (100% of samples positive). Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is ITM2B 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, 100% 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.
ITM2B expression in cancer
Protein expression of ITM2B 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 | 0.92 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.70 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.69 | High | 100% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.61 | High | 91% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.56 | High | 89% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.55 | High | 91% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.55 | High | 91% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.52 | High | 91% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 75% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.50 | Medium | 75% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 91% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.47 | Medium | 100% |
| Melanoma | 0.46 | Medium | 82% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 75% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.44 | Medium | 75% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 75% |
| Glioma | 0.31 | Medium | 58% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 58% |
| Lymphoma | 0.22 | Medium | 42% |
Is ITM2B internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for ITM2B. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
ITM2B clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for ITM2B yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for ITM2B trials.
ITM2B 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 ITM2B in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
ITM2B gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1257 cancer cell lines: -0.12 (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) · EPCAM · SSTR2 · EGFR · ITGAV · STEAP2 · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in thyroid cancer.
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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.