Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

GDF7

Growth/differentiation factor 7

Also known as: BMP12, GDF7_HUMAN

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
Q7Z4P5
Gene
GDF7
Ensembl
ENSG00000143869
Chromosome
2
Canonical length
450 aa
Protein class
Predicted secreted proteins
Subcellular location
Vesicles
Secretome location
Secreted in other tissues
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 may play a role in the differentiation of tendon cells and spinal cord interneurons. A mutation in this gene may be associated with increased risk for Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2016]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

450 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q7Z4P5|GDF7
     1  MDLSAAAALC LWLLSACRPR DGLEAAAVLR AAGAGPVRSP GGGGGGGGGG RTLAQAAGAA
    61  AVPAAAVPRA RAARRAAGSG FRNGSVVPHH FMMSLYRSLA GRAPAGAAAV SASGHGRADT
   121  ITGFTDQATQ DESAAETGQS FLFDVSSLND ADEVVGAELR VLRRGSPESG PGSWTSPPLL
   181  LLSTCPGAAR APRLLYSRAA EPLVGQRWEA FDVADAMRRH RREPRPPRAF CLLLRAVAGP
   241  VPSPLALRRL GFGWPGGGGS AAEERAVLVV SSRTQRKESL FREIRAQARA LGAALASEPL
   301  PDPGTGTASP RAVIGGRRRR RTALAGTRTA QGSGGGAGRG HGRRGRSRCS RKPLHVDFKE
   361  LGWDDWIIAP LDYEAYHCEG LCDFPLRSHL EPTNHAIIQT LLNSMAPDAA PASCCVPARL
   421  SPISILYIDA ANNVVYKQYE DMVVEACGCR

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against GDF7 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)
0.44
Highest tissue expression
21 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • seminal vesicle: 21 nTPM
  • blood vessel: 12 nTPM
  • cervix: 9.7 nTPM
  • endometrium: 6.7 nTPM
  • vagina: 6.5 nTPM
  • liver: 5 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • endometrial stromal cells: 120 nCPM
  • decidual stromal cells: 34 nCPM
  • adrenal medulla cells: 32 nCPM
  • prostatic club cells: 28 nCPM
  • proximal tubule cells: 21 nCPM
  • papillary tip epithelial cells: 11 nCPM

Immune cell

  • memory B-cell: 0.6 nTPM
  • naive B-cell: 0.6 nTPM
  • basophil: 0 nTPM
  • classical monocyte: 0 nTPM
  • eosinophil: 0 nTPM
  • gdT-cell: 0 nTPM

Brain region

  • cerebral cortex: 7.1 nTPM
  • white matter: 2.9 nTPM
  • basal ganglia: 2.5 nTPM
  • thalamus: 2.4 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 1.8 nTPM
  • hippocampal formation: 1.7 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)
0.64
gnomAD pLI
0.63
gnomAD missense Z
1.8
DepMap mean gene effect
0.04
DepMap dependency class
selective

Cancer expressionTCGA

Across TCGA tumor cohorts, this protein is over-expressed in roughly 2% 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 GDF7 as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against GDF7 could matter depends on whether native GDF7 is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

GDF7 is annotated as secreted, so native GDF7 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 GDF7 as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/GDF7. 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...