Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

KRT6A

Keratin, type II cytoskeletal 6A

Also known as: CK6C, CK6D, K2C6A_HUMAN, K6C, K6D, KRT6C, KRT6D

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
P02538
Gene
KRT6A
Ensembl
ENSG00000205420
Chromosome
12
Canonical length
564 aa
Protein class
Disease related genes, Human disease related genes, Plasma proteins, Predicted intracellular proteins
Subcellular location
Intermediate filaments

OverviewNCBI Gene

The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the keratin gene family. The type II cytokeratins consist of basic or neutral proteins which are arranged in pairs of heterotypic keratin chains coexpressed during differentiation of simple and stratified epithelial tissues. As many as six of this type II cytokeratin (KRT6) have been identified; the multiplicity of the genes is attributed to successive gene duplication events. The genes are expressed with family members KRT16 and/or KRT17 in the filiform papillae of the tongue, the stratified epithelial lining of oral mucosa and esophagus, the outer root sheath of hair follicles, and the glandular epithelia. This KRT6 gene in particular encodes the most abundant isoform. Mutations in these genes have been associated with pachyonychia congenita. In addition, peptides from the C-terminal region of the protein have antimicrobial activity against bacterial pathogens. The type II cytokeratins are clustered in a region of chromosome 12q12-q13. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2014]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

564 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>P02538|KRT6A
     1  MASTSTTIRS HSSSRRGFSA NSARLPGVSR SGFSSVSVSR SRGSGGLGGA CGGAGFGSRS
    61  LYGLGGSKRI SIGGGSCAIS GGYGSRAGGS YGFGGAGSGF GFGGGAGIGF GLGGGAGLAG
   121  GFGGPGFPVC PPGGIQEVTV NQSLLTPLNL QIDPTIQRVR AEEREQIKTL NNKFASFIDK
   181  VRFLEQQNKV LETKWTLLQE QGTKTVRQNL EPLFEQYINN LRRQLDSIVG ERGRLDSELR
   241  GMQDLVEDFK NKYEDEINKR TAAENEFVTL KKDVDAAYMN KVELQAKADT LTDEINFLRA
   301  LYDAELSQMQ THISDTSVVL SMDNNRNLDL DSIIAEVKAQ YEEIAQRSRA EAESWYQTKY
   361  EELQVTAGRH GDDLRNTKQE IAEINRMIQR LRSEIDHVKK QCANLQAAIA DAEQRGEMAL
   421  KDAKNKLEGL EDALQKAKQD LARLLKEYQE LMNVKLALDV EIATYRKLLE GEECRLNGEG
   481  VGQVNISVVQ STVSSGYGGA SGVGSGLGLG GGSSYSYGSG LGVGGGFSSS SGRAIGGGLS
   541  SVGGGSSTIK YTTTSSSSRK SYKH

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against KRT6A 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)
0.6
Highest tissue expression
7,111 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • esophagus: 7,111 nTPM
  • cervix: 5,175 nTPM
  • vagina: 4,763 nTPM
  • salivary gland: 994 nTPM
  • tonsil: 590 nTPM
  • skin: 468 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • esophageal apical cells: 41,304 nCPM
  • esophageal suprabasal cells: 27,326 nCPM
  • suprabasal keratinocytes: 10,475 nCPM
  • esophageal basal cells: 5,767 nCPM
  • basal keratinocytes: 1,836 nCPM
  • ocular epithelial cells: 776 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 KRT6A.

Disease | AllUniProt

Conditions KRT6A is implicated in, by any mechanism.

Disease | GeneticClinVar

29 pathogenic / likely-pathogenic of 269 ClinVar records.

Conditions with pathogenic or likely-pathogenic variants.

  • Pachyonychia congenita 3

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)
0.84
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
-0.95
DepMap mean gene effect
-0.21
DepMap dependency class
selective

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

InteractionsUniProt · HPA

Protein binding partners of KRT6A 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 KRT6A as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against KRT6A could matter depends on whether native KRT6A is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

KRT6A 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 KRT6A as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/KRT6A. 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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