Prostate specific membrane antigen

Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a type 2 integral membrane glycoprotein found in prostate tissues and a few other tissues. It is a possible therapeutic target for prostate cancer. Although it is a marker for prostate cancer little is known about its function in the body. PSMA is expressed on tumor cells as a noncovalent homodimer.

It is being used in a nuclear medicine scanning procedure as the cellular target (with injected radioactive-labeled anti-PSMA antibodies as markers) to image benign and malignant prostate acinar glandular tissue, whether in the gland or as cancer metastases elsewhere in the body.

Numerous clinical trials of cancer therapy are targeted at PSMA.