Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

METRNL

Meteorin-like protein

Also known as: METRL_HUMAN

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession: Q641Q3
Gene: METRNL
Ensembl: ENSG00000176845
Chromosome: 17
Canonical length: 311 aa
Protein class: Predicted intracellular proteins, Predicted secreted proteins
Secretome location: Secreted to blood

OverviewNCBI Gene

Predicted to enable hormone activity. Predicted to be involved in several processes, including brown fat cell differentiation; positive regulation of brown fat cell differentiation; and response to muscle activity. Located in extracellular exosome. [provided by Alliance of Genome Resources, Jul 2025]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

311 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q641Q3|METRNL
     1  MRGAARAAWG RAGQPWPRPP APGPPPPPLP LLLLLLAGLL GGAGAQYSSD RCSWKGSGLT
    61  HEAHRKEVEQ VYLRCAAGAV EWMYPTGALI VNLRPNTFSP ARHLTVCIRS FTDSSGANIY
   121  LEKTGELRLL VPDGDGRPGR VQCFGLEQGG LFVEATPQQD IGRRTTGFQY ELVRRHRASD
   181  LHELSAPCRP CSDTEVLLAV CTSDFAVRGS IQQVTHEPER QDSAIHLRVS RLYRQKSRVF
   241  EPVPEGDGHW QGRVRTLLEC GVRPGHGDFL FTGHMHFGEA RLGCAPRFKD FQRMYRDAQE
   301  RGLNPCEVGT D

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against METRNL 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): 0.37
Highest tissue expression: 248 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

skin: 248 nTPM
esophagus: 185 nTPM
blood vessel: 113 nTPM
adipose tissue: 103 nTPM
vagina: 102 nTPM
cervix: 95 nTPM

Single-cell type

nk-cells: 29 nCPM
bergmann glia: 27 nCPM
renal connecting tubule cells: 23 nCPM
renal collecting duct intercalated cells: 22 nCPM
renal collecting duct principal cells: 22 nCPM
choroid plexus epithelial cells: 16 nCPM

Immune cell

eosinophil: 11 nTPM
non-classical monocyte: 8.2 nTPM
basophil: 6.8 nTPM
intermediate monocyte: 6 nTPM
neutrophil: 5.5 nTPM
myeloid DC: 4.5 nTPM

Brain region

choroid plexus: 67 nTPM
thalamus: 30 nTPM
midbrain: 18 nTPM
medulla oblongata: 17 nTPM
cerebral cortex: 15 nTPM
pons: 13 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): 0.54
gnomAD pLI: 0.75
gnomAD missense Z: 1.11
DepMap mean gene effect: 0.01
DepMap dependency class: selective

Cancer expressionTCGA

Across TCGA tumor cohorts, this protein is over-expressed in roughly 5% of surveyed tumor types (aggregate summary; per-cohort expression, alteration, and survival load in the interactive view).

OntologyGO

Biological processes

Molecular functions

hormone activity

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

Meteorin-like

KeywordsUniProt

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

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

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

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