Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

MAF

Transcription factor Maf

Also known as: c-MAF, MAF_HUMAN

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
O75444
Gene
MAF
Ensembl
ENSG00000178573
Chromosome
16
Canonical length
373 aa
Protein class
Cancer-related genes, Disease related genes, Human disease related genes, Predicted intracellular proteins, Transcription factors
Subcellular location
Nucleoplasm,Nuclear bodies,Golgi apparatus,Vesicles
Quaternary structure
Homodimer

OverviewNCBI Gene

The protein encoded by this gene is a DNA-binding, leucine zipper-containing transcription factor that acts as a homodimer or as a heterodimer. Depending on the binding site and binding partner, the encoded protein can be a transcriptional activator or repressor. This protein plays a role in the regulation of several cellular processes, including embryonic lens fiber cell development, increased T-cell susceptibility to apoptosis, and chondrocyte terminal differentiation. Defects in this gene are a cause of juvenile-onset pulverulent cataract as well as congenital cerulean cataract 4 (CCA4). Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jan 2010]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

373 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>O75444|MAF
     1  MASELAMSNS DLPTSPLAME YVNDFDLMKF EVKKEPVETD RIISQCGRLI AGGSLSSTPM
    61  STPCSSVPPS PSFSAPSPGS GSEQKAHLED YYWMTGYPQQ LNPEALGFSP EDAVEALISN
   121  SHQLQGGFDG YARGAQQLAA AAGAGAGASL GGSGEEMGPA AAVVSAVIAA AAAQSGAGPH
   181  YHHHHHHAAG HHHHPTAGAP GAAGSAAASA GGAGGAGGGG PASAGGGGGG GGGGGGGGAA
   241  GAGGALHPHH AAGGLHFDDR FSDEQLVTMS VRELNRQLRG VSKEEVIRLK QKRRTLKNRG
   301  YAQSCRFKRV QQRHVLESEK NQLLQQVDHL KQEISRLVRE RDAYKEKYEK LVSSGFRENG
   361  SSSDNPSSPE FFM

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against MAF 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)
0.63
Highest tissue expression
78 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • small intestine: 78 nTPM
  • duodenum: 66 nTPM
  • skin: 55 nTPM
  • parathyroid gland: 48 nTPM
  • skeletal muscle: 46 nTPM
  • kidney: 45 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • kupffer cells: 904 nCPM
  • hofbauer cells: 630 nCPM
  • microglia: 513 nCPM
  • lymphatic endothelial cells: 375 nCPM
  • macrophages: 355 nCPM
  • enterocytes: 301 nCPM

Immune cell

  • basophil: 38 nTPM
  • MAIT T-cell: 8.6 nTPM
  • T-reg: 4.7 nTPM
  • memory CD4 T-cell: 3.2 nTPM
  • memory CD8 T-cell: 2.7 nTPM
  • gdT-cell: 1.1 nTPM

Brain region

  • white matter: 78 nTPM
  • thalamus: 76 nTPM
  • midbrain: 63 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 57 nTPM
  • spinal cord: 56 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 48 nTPM

DiseaseUniProt · ClinVar · IEDB · PubMed

Four sources answering four different questions about MAF.

Disease | AllUniProt

Conditions MAF is implicated in, by any mechanism.

Disease | GeneticClinVar

36 pathogenic / likely-pathogenic of 248 ClinVar records.

Conditions with pathogenic or likely-pathogenic variants.

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)
0.54
gnomAD pLI
0.74
gnomAD missense Z
1.18
DepMap mean gene effect
-0.13
DepMap dependency class
selective

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

Molecular functions

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

KeywordsUniProt

InteractionsUniProt · HPA

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

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

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