Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

HECA

Headcase protein homolog

Also known as: dJ225E12.1, HDC, HDC_HUMAN, HDCL, hHDC

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
Q9UBI9
Gene
HECA
Ensembl
ENSG00000112406
Chromosome
6
Canonical length
543 aa
Protein class
Predicted intracellular proteins
Subcellular location
Cytosol

OverviewNCBI Gene

This gene encodes the homolog of the Drosophila headcase protein, a highly basic, cytoplasmic protein that regulates the re-entry of imaginal cells into the mitotic cycle during adult morphogenesis. In Drosophila, the encoded protein also inhibits terminal branching of neighboring cells during tracheal development. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

543 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q9UBI9|HECA
     1  MPNPKNSKGG RKNKRANSSG DEQENGAGAL AAAGAAGAAA GGALAAAAGC GAAAAGAPGA
    61  GGAAGAGGAG TGAANAAAAA GAAAAGDAKN EAPCATPLIC SFGRPVDLEK DDYQKVVCNN
   121  EHCPCSTWMH LQCFYEWESS ILVQFNCIGR ARSWNEKQCR QNMWTKKGYD LAFRFCSCRC
   181  GQGHLKKDTD WYQVKRMQDE KKKKSGSEKN TGRPPGEAAE EAKKCRPPNK PQKGPSHDLP
   241  RRHSMDRQNS QEKAVGAAAY GARSPGGSPG QSPPTGYSIL SPAHFSGPRS SRYLGEFLKN
   301  AIHLEPHKKA MAGGHVFRNA HFDYSPAGLA VHRGGHFDTP VQFLRRLDLS ELLTHIPRHK
   361  LNTFHVRMED DAQVGQGEDL RKFILAALSA SHRNVVNCAL CHRALPVFEQ FPLVDGTLFL
   421  SPSRHDEIEY DVPCHLQGRL MHLYAVCVDC LEGVHKIICI KCKSRWDGSW HQLGTMYTYD
   481  ILAASPCCQA RLNCKHCGKP VIDVRIGMQY FSEYSNVQQC PHCGNLDYHF VKPFSSFKVL
   541  EAY

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against HECA 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)
0.46
Highest tissue expression
37 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • bone marrow: 37 nTPM
  • thymus: 30 nTPM
  • lymph node: 27 nTPM
  • spleen: 26 nTPM
  • skin: 25 nTPM
  • tonsil: 24 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • neutrophils: 985 nCPM
  • monocytes: 280 nCPM
  • kupffer cells: 267 nCPM
  • t-cells: 235 nCPM
  • neutrophil progenitors: 227 nCPM
  • esophageal apical cells: 184 nCPM

Immune cell

  • basophil: 6.9 nTPM
  • non-classical monocyte: 5.5 nTPM
  • neutrophil: 5 nTPM
  • memory CD4 T-cell: 4.3 nTPM
  • naive CD8 T-cell: 4.1 nTPM
  • naive CD4 T-cell: 4 nTPM

Brain region

  • white matter: 30 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 30 nTPM
  • pons: 28 nTPM
  • thalamus: 28 nTPM
  • spinal cord: 27 nTPM
  • hippocampal formation: 26 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)
0.48
gnomAD pLI
0.61
gnomAD missense Z
2.61
DepMap mean gene effect
0.13
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

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

  • Headcase
  • Headcase, middle domain
  • Headcase, N-terminal
  • Headcase N-terminal
  • Headcase protein

KeywordsUniProt

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

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

HECA 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 HECA as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

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