KLB as a Radioligand Therapy Target
KLB, klotho beta, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, KLB staining is highest in gastric cancer (100% of samples positive), liver cancer (100% of samples positive) and pancreatic cancer (100% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality).
Is KLB 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 gastric cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
KLB expression in cancer
Protein expression of KLB 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gastric Cancer | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.61 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.60 | High | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.57 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.53 | High | 92% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.46 | Medium | 91% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 100% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 83% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 82% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 73% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.31 | Medium | 75% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 42% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.21 | Medium | 36% |
| Glioma | 0.19 | Low | 50% |
| Melanoma | 0.15 | Low | 44% |
| Lymphoma | 0.14 | Low | 33% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 33% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 10% |
Is KLB internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for KLB. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
KLB clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for KLB yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for KLB trials.
KLB 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 KLB in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
KLB gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1257 cancer cell lines: -0.04 (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 gastric cancer radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · FAP · EGFR · SSTR2 · CEA (CEACAM5) · Mesothelin (MSLN) · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in gastric cancer.
See how KLB 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.