PKD1L1 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
PKD1L1, polycystin 1 like 1, transient receptor potential channel interacting, is a cell-surface protein (membrane receptor). In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, PKD1L1 staining is highest in thyroid cancer (100% of samples positive), colorectal cancer (100% of samples positive) and pancreatic cancer (100% of samples positive). Evidence on whether PKD1L1 internalizes is mixed. Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is PKD1L1 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 thyroid cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ⚠️ Internalization: Mixed evidence.
- ⚠️ 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.
PKD1L1 expression in cancer
Protein expression of PKD1L1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.92 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.89 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.87 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.86 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.81 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.78 | High | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.69 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.64 | High | 83% |
| Melanoma | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.58 | High | 92% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.53 | High | 100% |
| Glioma | 0.53 | High | 100% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.52 | High | 91% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.47 | Medium | 75% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 82% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.36 | Medium | 75% |
| Lymphoma | 0.33 | Medium | 67% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 67% |
Is PKD1L1 internalized?
Uncertain. Insufficient literature found.
PKD1L1 clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for PKD1L1 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for PKD1L1 trials.
PKD1L1 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 PKD1L1 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
PKD1L1 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1256 cancer cell lines: 0.01 (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 thyroid cancer radioligand targets
c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · EPCAM · SSTR2 · EGFR · ITGAV · STEAP2 · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in thyroid cancer.
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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.