Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

LCN12

Epididymal-specific lipocalin-12

Also known as: LCN12_HUMAN, MGC48935

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
Q6JVE5
Gene
LCN12
Ensembl
ENSG00000184925
Chromosome
9
Canonical length
192 aa
Protein class
Predicted intracellular proteins, Predicted secreted proteins
Secretome location
Secreted in male reproductive system

OverviewNCBI Gene

Members of the lipocalin family, such as LCN12, have a common structure consisting of an 8-stranded antiparallel beta-barrel that forms a cup-shaped ligand-binding pocket or calyx. Lipocalins generally bind small hydrophobic ligands and transport them to specific cells (Suzuki et al., 2004 [PubMed 15363845]).[supplied by OMIM, Aug 2009]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

192 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q6JVE5|LCN12
     1  MRLLCGLWLW LSLLKVLQAQ TPTPLPLPPP MQSFQGNQFQ GEWFVLGLAG NSFRPEHRAL
    61  LNAFTATFEL SDDGRFEVWN AMTRGQHCDT WSYVLIPAAQ PGQFTVDHGV EPGADREETR
   121  VVDSDYTQFA LMLSRRHTSR LAVLRISLLG RSWLLPPGTL DQFICLGRAQ GLSDDNIVFP
   181  DVTGWSPQAS VC

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against LCN12 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)
0.34
Highest tissue expression
75 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • epididymis: 75 nTPM
  • thyroid gland: 6.9 nTPM
  • fallopian tube: 3.2 nTPM
  • cervix: 2.7 nTPM
  • kidney: 2.1 nTPM
  • seminal vesicle: 1.8 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • epididymal principal cells: 2,624 nCPM
  • epididymal efferent duct absorptive cells: 236 nCPM
  • endometrial luminal cells: 103 nCPM
  • epididymal clear cells: 100 nCPM
  • epididymal efferent duct ciliated cells: 69 nCPM
  • fallopian secretory cells: 59 nCPM

Immune cell

  • plasmacytoid DC: 0.2 nTPM
  • basophil: 0 nTPM
  • classical monocyte: 0 nTPM
  • eosinophil: 0 nTPM
  • gdT-cell: 0 nTPM
  • intermediate monocyte: 0 nTPM

Brain region

  • medulla oblongata: 1.9 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 0.9 nTPM
  • choroid plexus: 0.9 nTPM
  • midbrain: 0.9 nTPM
  • spinal cord: 0.7 nTPM
  • thalamus: 0.7 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)
1.33
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
0.61
DepMap mean gene effect
0.1
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

Molecular functions

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

KeywordsUniProt

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

Seroatlas reads LCN12 as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against LCN12 could matter depends on whether native LCN12 is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

LCN12 is annotated as secreted, so native LCN12 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 LCN12 as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/LCN12. 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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