TCIM as a Radioligand Therapy Target
TCIM, transcriptional and immune response regulator, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, TCIM staining is highest in head and neck cancer (100% of samples positive), ovarian cancer (92% of samples positive) and breast cancer (92% of samples positive). Clinical status: Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program).
Is TCIM 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 head and neck 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.
TCIM expression in cancer
Protein expression of TCIM 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 100% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 92% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 92% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.42 | Medium | 75% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 73% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.39 | Medium | 92% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 91% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.33 | Medium | 75% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.30 | Medium | 64% |
| Glioma | 0.28 | Medium | 67% |
| Lymphoma | 0.25 | Medium | 67% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 73% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.22 | Medium | 67% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.19 | Low | 50% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.19 | Low | 50% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.19 | Low | 50% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 50% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.14 | Low | 25% |
| Melanoma | 0.11 | Low | 33% |
Not detected by IHC in: kidney cancer.
Is TCIM internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for TCIM. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
TCIM clinical trials
Discovery-stage (no clinical drug program). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for TCIM yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for TCIM trials.
TCIM 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 TCIM in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
TCIM gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1256 cancer cell lines: 0.05 (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 head and neck cancer radioligand targets
EGFR · c-MET (MET) · HER3 (ERBB3) · ITGAV · SSTR2 · B7-H3 (CD276) · STEAP2 · Mesothelin (MSLN)
See all radioligand therapy targets in head and neck cancer.
See how TCIM 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.