MUC16 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
MUC16, mucin 16, cell surface associated, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, MUC16 staining is highest in ovarian cancer (100% of samples positive), cervical cancer (75% of samples positive) and endometrial cancer (75% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is MUC16 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 ovarian 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.
MUC16 expression in cancer
Protein expression of MUC16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ovarian Cancer | 1.00 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.69 | High | 75% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.67 | High | 75% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.53 | High | 67% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.48 | Medium | 64% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.40 | Medium | 50% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.30 | Medium | 36% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.20 | Medium | 30% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 25% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.13 | Low | 13% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 17% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 11% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: colorectal cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, kidney cancer, thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, glioma.
Is MUC16 internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for MUC16. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
MUC16 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for MUC16 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for MUC16 trials.
MUC16 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 MUC16 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
MUC16 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1249 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 ovarian cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · Mesothelin (MSLN) · EPCAM · STEAP2 · FAP · ITGAV · EGFR
See all radioligand therapy targets in ovarian cancer.
See how MUC16 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.