KLHL14 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
KLHL14, kelch like family member 14, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, KLHL14 staining is highest in melanoma (100% of samples positive), lymphoma (100% of samples positive) and thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive). Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is KLHL14 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 melanoma, 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.
KLHL14 expression in cancer
Protein expression of KLHL14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melanoma | 0.97 | High | 100% |
| Lymphoma | 0.94 | High | 100% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.92 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.92 | High | 100% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.89 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.89 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.83 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.83 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.83 | High | 100% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.81 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.81 | High | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.70 | High | 100% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.69 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.67 | High | 91% |
| Glioma | 0.53 | High | 100% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.52 | High | 82% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.19 | Low | 50% |
Is KLHL14 internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for KLHL14. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
KLHL14 clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for KLHL14 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for KLHL14 trials.
KLHL14 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 KLHL14 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
KLHL14 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1239 cancer cell lines: 0.02 (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 melanoma radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · STEAP2 · SSTR2 · B7-H3 (CD276) · ITGAV · TMEFF2 · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in melanoma.
See how KLHL14 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.