Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

GDF3

Growth/differentiation factor 3

Also known as: GDF3_HUMAN

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
Q9NR23
Gene
GDF3
Ensembl
ENSG00000184344
Chromosome
12
Canonical length
364 aa
Protein class
Disease related genes, Human disease related genes, Predicted secreted proteins
Secretome location
Secreted to blood
Quaternary structure
Homodimer

OverviewNCBI Gene

This gene encodes a secreted ligand of the TGF-beta (transforming growth factor-beta) superfamily of proteins. Ligands of this family bind various TGF-beta receptors leading to recruitment and activation of SMAD family transcription factors that regulate gene expression. The encoded preproprotein is proteolytically processed to generate each subunit of the disulfide-linked homodimer. This protein plays a role ocular and skeletal development. Mutations in this gene are associated with microphthalmia, coloboma, and skeletal abnormalities in human patients. [provided by RefSeq, Aug 2016]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

364 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q9NR23|GDF3
     1  MLRFLPDLAF SFLLILALGQ AVQFQEYVFL QFLGLDKAPS PQKFQPVPYI LKKIFQDREA
    61  AATTGVSRDL CYVKELGVRG NVLRFLPDQG FFLYPKKISQ ASSCLQKLLY FNLSAIKERE
   121  QLTLAQLGLD LGPNSYYNLG PELELALFLV QEPHVWGQTT PKPGKMFVLR SVPWPQGAVH
   181  FNLLDVAKDW NDNPRKNFGL FLEILVKEDR DSGVNFQPED TCARLRCSLH ASLLVVTLNP
   241  DQCHPSRKRR AAIPVPKLSC KNLCHRHQLF INFRDLGWHK WIIAPKGFMA NYCHGECPFS
   301  LTISLNSSNY AFMQALMHAV DPEIPQAVCI PTKLSPISML YQDNNDNVIL RHYEDMVVDE
   361  CGCG

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against GDF3 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
Secreted
Secreted
Yes
Transmembrane segments
0
Mean surface accessibility (rSASA)
0.32
Highest tissue expression
4.3 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • kidney: 4.3 nTPM
  • spleen: 0.9 nTPM
  • testis: 0.4 nTPM
  • adipose tissue: 0.3 nTPM
  • adrenal gland: 0.3 nTPM
  • fallopian tube: 0.3 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • lymphatic endothelial cells: 12 nCPM
  • granulosa cells: 4.9 nCPM
  • vascular endothelial cells: 2 nCPM
  • fallopian secretory cells: 0.5 nCPM
  • hematopoietic stem cells: 0.5 nCPM
  • monocytes: 0.5 nCPM

Immune cell

  • basophil: 0 nTPM
  • classical monocyte: 0 nTPM
  • eosinophil: 0 nTPM
  • gdT-cell: 0 nTPM
  • intermediate monocyte: 0 nTPM
  • MAIT T-cell: 0 nTPM

Brain region

  • amygdala: 0 nTPM
  • basal ganglia: 0 nTPM
  • cerebellum: 0 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 0 nTPM
  • choroid plexus: 0 nTPM
  • hippocampal formation: 0 nTPM

DiseaseUniProt · ClinVar · IEDB · PubMed

Four sources answering four different questions about GDF3.

Disease | AllUniProt

Conditions GDF3 is implicated in, by any mechanism.

  • Klippel-Feil syndrome 3, autosomal dominant (KFS3) MIM:613702
  • Microphthalmia/Coloboma 6 (MCOPCB6) MIM:613703
  • Microphthalmia, isolated, 7 (MCOP7) MIM:613704

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)
1.31
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
-0.12
DepMap mean gene effect
0
DepMap dependency class
none

Cancer expressionTCGA

Across TCGA tumor cohorts, this protein is over-expressed in roughly 3% 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

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

Seroatlas reads GDF3 as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against GDF3 could matter depends on whether native GDF3 is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

GDF3 is annotated as secreted, so native GDF3 circulates and is directly accessible to antibodies. Secreted and cell-surface proteins are the autoantibody targets most likely to act like drugs, blocking or depleting the native protein.

Annotation status

The present source text does not explicitly label GDF3 as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/GDF3. 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).

© 2026 · Seroatlas, Discover Oregon LLC · Terms of use

Loading the interactive Seroatlas protein explorer...