PNCK as a Radioligand Therapy Target
PNCK, pregnancy up-regulated nonubiquitous CaM kinase, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, PNCK staining is highest in testicular cancer (100% of samples positive), pancreatic cancer (100% of samples positive) and liver cancer (100% of samples positive). Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is PNCK 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 testicular cancer, 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.
PNCK expression in cancer
Protein expression of PNCK 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Testicular Cancer | 0.79 | High | 100% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.76 | High | 100% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.76 | High | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.75 | High | 100% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.73 | High | 100% |
| Glioma | 0.72 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.69 | High | 100% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.69 | High | 100% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.67 | High | 100% |
| Melanoma | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.61 | High | 100% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.53 | High | 100% |
| Lymphoma | 0.47 | Medium | 92% |
Is PNCK internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for PNCK. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
PNCK clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for PNCK yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for PNCK trials.
PNCK 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 PNCK in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
PNCK gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1253 cancer cell lines: 0.07 (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 testicular cancer radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · STEAP2 · KIT · SSTR2 · TMEFF2 · Mesothelin (MSLN) · HER2 (ERBB2)
See all radioligand therapy targets in testicular cancer.
See how PNCK 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.