Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

LCN2

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin

Also known as: 24p3, NGAL, NGAL_HUMAN

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
P80188
Gene
LCN2
Ensembl
ENSG00000148346
Chromosome
9
Canonical length
198 aa
Protein class
Candidate cardiovascular disease genes, Plasma proteins, Predicted secreted proteins
Subcellular location
Endoplasmic reticulum
Secretome location
Secreted in other tissues
Quaternary structure
Homodimer

OverviewNCBI Gene

This gene encodes a protein that belongs to the lipocalin family. Members of this family transport small hydrophobic molecules such as lipids, steroid hormones and retinoids. The protein encoded by this gene is a neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and plays a role in innate immunity by limiting bacterial growth as a result of sequestering iron-containing siderophores. The presence of this protein in blood and urine is an early biomarker of acute kidney injury. This protein is thought to be be involved in multiple cellular processes, including maintenance of skin homeostasis, and suppression of invasiveness and metastasis. Mice lacking this gene are more susceptible to bacterial infection than wild type mice. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2015]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

198 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>P80188|LCN2
     1  MPLGLLWLGL ALLGALHAQA QDSTSDLIPA PPLSKVPLQQ NFQDNQFQGK WYVVGLAGNA
    61  ILREDKDPQK MYATIYELKE DKSYNVTSVL FRKKKCDYWI RTFVPGCQPG EFTLGNIKSY
   121  PGLTSYLVRV VSTNYNQHAM VFFKKVSQNR EYFKITLYGR TKELTSELKE NFIRFSKSLG
   181  LPENHIVFPV PIDQCIDG

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against LCN2 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
2,617 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • bone marrow: 2,617 nTPM
  • gallbladder: 2,091 nTPM
  • salivary gland: 1,266 nTPM
  • cervix: 764 nTPM
  • esophagus: 644 nTPM
  • urinary bladder: 627 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • endometrial secretory cells: 17,173 nCPM
  • esophageal apical cells: 9,320 nCPM
  • conjunctival goblet cells: 8,400 nCPM
  • prostatic club cells: 6,845 nCPM
  • salivary duct cells: 4,478 nCPM
  • lacrimal acinar cells: 3,931 nCPM

Immune cell

  • total PBMC: 12 nTPM
  • neutrophil: 12 nTPM
  • basophil: 9.7 nTPM
  • non-classical monocyte: 4.7 nTPM
  • classical monocyte: 0 nTPM
  • eosinophil: 0 nTPM

Brain region

  • choroid plexus: 4.2 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 0.7 nTPM
  • pons: 0.7 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 0.6 nTPM
  • basal ganglia: 0.4 nTPM
  • cerebellum: 0.4 nTPM

DiseaseUniProt · ClinVar · IEDB · PubMed

Four sources answering four different questions about LCN2.

Disease | ImmuneIEDB

Conditions an epitope on LCN2 was assayed in.

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)
1.72
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
-0.43
DepMap mean gene effect
-0.12
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 LCN2 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 LCN2 as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against LCN2 could matter depends on whether native LCN2 is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

LCN2 is annotated as secreted, so native LCN2 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 LCN2 as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/LCN2. 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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