SLC39A6 as a Radioligand Therapy Target
SLC39A6, solute carrier family 39 member 6, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, SLC39A6 staining is highest in breast cancer (100% of samples positive), prostate cancer (100% of samples positive) and head and neck cancer (100% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality).
Is SLC39A6 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 breast cancer, 100% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
SLC39A6 expression in cancer
Protein expression of SLC39A6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast Cancer | 0.69 | High | 100% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.64 | High | 100% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.58 | High | 100% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.56 | High | 100% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.53 | High | 90% |
| Melanoma | 0.44 | Medium | 83% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.42 | Medium | 75% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 50% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.31 | Medium | 67% |
| Glioma | 0.22 | Medium | 58% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 50% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 50% |
| Kidney Cancer | 0.21 | Medium | 46% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.15 | Low | 46% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.14 | Low | 42% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.12 | Low | 27% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.08 | Low | 17% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.07 | Low | 11% |
| Lymphoma | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
Is SLC39A6 internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for SLC39A6. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
SLC39A6 clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 2, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for SLC39A6 yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for SLC39A6 trials.
SLC39A6 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 SLC39A6 in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
SLC39A6 gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1258 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 breast cancer radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · FAP · HER2 (ERBB2) · STEAP2 · EGFR · B7-H3 (CD276) · SSTR2
See all radioligand therapy targets in breast cancer.
See how SLC39A6 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.