MUC1 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
MUC1, mucin 1, cell surface associated, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, MUC1 staining is highest in cervical cancer (100% of samples positive), gastric cancer (100% of samples positive) and ovarian cancer (100% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is MUC1 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 cervical cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
MUC1 expression in cancer
Protein expression of MUC1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cervical Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.97 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.97 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.92 | High | 92% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.83 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.82 | High | 91% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.78 | High | 92% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.75 | High | 75% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.72 | High | 92% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.58 | High | 64% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.31 | Medium | 42% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.25 | Medium | 33% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.25 | Medium | 25% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.19 | Low | 25% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 20% |
Not detected by IHC in: lymphoma, melanoma, glioma.
Is MUC1 internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for MUC1. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
MUC1 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for MUC1 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for MUC1 trials.
MUC1 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 MUC1 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
MUC1 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1258 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 cervical cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · EGFR · HER3 (ERBB3) · CEA (CEACAM5) · SSTR2 · Mesothelin (MSLN) · ITGB6 · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in cervical cancer.
See how MUC1 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.