PDE4B as a Radioligand Therapy Target
PDE4B, phosphodiesterase 4B, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, PDE4B staining is highest in prostate cancer (83% of samples positive), melanoma (75% of samples positive) and thyroid cancer (75% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality).
Is PDE4B 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: Medium IHC staining in prostate cancer, 83% 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.
PDE4B expression in cancer
Protein expression of PDE4B 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prostate Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 83% |
| Melanoma | 0.44 | Medium | 75% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 75% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.42 | Medium | 75% |
| Glioma | 0.42 | Medium | 75% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 83% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 64% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 67% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 67% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 67% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.25 | Medium | 58% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 36% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.23 | Medium | 50% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 50% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.21 | Medium | 36% |
| Lymphoma | 0.19 | Low | 42% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.14 | Low | 42% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 18% |
Is PDE4B internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for PDE4B. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
PDE4B clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 3, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for PDE4B yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for PDE4B trials.
PDE4B 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 PDE4B in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
PDE4B gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1257 cancer cell lines: -0.03 (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 prostate cancer radioligand targets
PSMA (FOLH1) · HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · EGFR · EPCAM · FAP · B7-H3 (CD276) · STEAP2
See all radioligand therapy targets in prostate cancer.
See how PDE4B 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.