Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

AKR7A2

Aflatoxin B1 aldehyde reductase member 2

Also known as: AFAR, ARK72_HUMAN

Cross-references: UniProt · Ensembl · Human Protein Atlas · GeneCards · NCBI Gene

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
O43488
Gene
AKR7A2
Ensembl
ENSG00000053371
Chromosome
1
Canonical length
359 aa
Protein class
Enzymes, Metabolic proteins, Plasma proteins, Predicted intracellular proteins
Subcellular location
Golgi apparatus,Cytosol
Quaternary structure
Homodimer

OverviewNCBI Gene

The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the aldo/keto reductase (AKR) superfamily and AKR7 family, which are involved in the detoxification of aldehydes and ketones. The AKR7 family consists of 3 genes that are present in a cluster on the p arm of chromosome 1. This protein, thought to be localized in the golgi, catalyzes the NADPH-dependent reduction of succinic semialdehyde to the endogenous neuromodulator, gamma-hydroxybutyrate. It may also function as a detoxication enzyme in the reduction of aflatoxin B1 and 2-carboxybenzaldehyde. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2016]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

359 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>O43488|AKR7A2
     1  MLSAASRVVS RAAVHCALRS PPPEARALAM SRPPPPRVAS VLGTMEMGRR MDAPASAAAV
    61  RAFLERGHTE LDTAFMYSDG QSETILGGLG LGLGGGDCRV KIATKANPWD GKSLKPDSVR
   121  SQLETSLKRL QCPQVDLFYL HAPDHGTPVE ETLHACQRLH QEGKFVELGL SNYASWEVAE
   181  ICTLCKSNGW ILPTVYQGMY NATTRQVETE LFPCLRHFGL RFYAYNPLAG GLLTGKYKYE
   241  DKDGKQPVGR FFGNSWAETY RNRFWKEHHF EAIALVEKAL QAAYGASAPS VTSAALRWMY
   301  HHSQLQGAHG DAVILGMSSL EQLEQNLAAT EEGPLEPAVV DAFNQAWHLV AHECPNYFR

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against AKR7A2 can act on the native protein depends on physical access: surface and secreted proteins are reachable by circulating antibodies, intracellular proteins usually are not.

Antibody reachability
Intracellular
Secreted
No
Transmembrane segments
0
Mean surface accessibility (rSASA)
0.28
Highest tissue expression
135 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • choroid plexus: 135 nTPM
  • duodenum: 76 nTPM
  • kidney: 75 nTPM
  • adrenal gland: 65 nTPM
  • liver: 61 nTPM
  • skeletal muscle: 54 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • breast lactating cells: 294 nCPM
  • megakaryocytes: 253 nCPM
  • enterocytes: 243 nCPM
  • esophageal apical cells: 205 nCPM
  • cytotrophoblasts: 204 nCPM
  • migrating cytotrophoblasts: 182 nCPM

Immune cell

  • myeloid DC: 114 nTPM
  • plasmacytoid DC: 99 nTPM
  • classical monocyte: 82 nTPM
  • T-reg: 79 nTPM
  • total PBMC: 74 nTPM
  • MAIT T-cell: 72 nTPM

Brain region

  • choroid plexus: 98 nTPM
  • white matter: 71 nTPM
  • midbrain: 64 nTPM
  • spinal cord: 63 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 61 nTPM
  • thalamus: 61 nTPM

Genetic constraint and essentialitygnomAD · DepMap

Does the body need this protein intact? Low LOEUF or a strong DepMap dependency means loss or blockade of the protein is likely to be felt.

gnomAD LOEUF (loss-of-function intolerance)
1.52
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
-0.42
DepMap mean gene effect
0.04
DepMap dependency class
none

Cancer expressionTCGA

Across TCGA tumor cohorts, this protein is over-expressed in roughly 4% of surveyed tumor types (aggregate summary; per-cohort expression, alteration, and survival load in the interactive view).

OntologyGO

Biological processes

Molecular functions

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

KeywordsUniProt

InteractionsUniProt · HPA

Protein binding partners of AKR7A2 in the human serome: UniProt-annotated complex subunits plus reported interactors. Each links to its own Seroatlas record.

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

Seroatlas reads AKR7A2 as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against AKR7A2 could matter depends on whether native AKR7A2 is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

AKR7A2 is annotated as predominantly intracellular. Intracellular proteins are common autoantibody markers, becoming visible to the immune system after cell injury or altered processing, but are usually markers of disease rather than direct drivers.

Annotation status

The present source text does not explicitly label AKR7A2 as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/AKR7A2. Study-independent annotations aggregated from UniProt, Human Protein Atlas, PubMed, IEDB, Pfam, InterPro, Gene Ontology, AlphaFold, gnomAD, DepMap, ClinVar, TCGA. Catalog release seroatlas-reviewed-human-uniprot-20260313.

Seroatlas is the reference for exploring autoantibody and antibody serology at the human-protein level: the autoreactome and human serome, multiplex serology (HuProt, HuScan, VirScan, PhIP-Seq).

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