Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

TMEM38A

Trimeric intracellular cation channel type A

Also known as: MGC3169, TM38A_HUMAN, TRIC-A

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession: Q9H6F2
Gene: TMEM38A
Ensembl: ENSG00000072954
Chromosome: 19
Canonical length: 299 aa
Protein class: Predicted membrane proteins
Subcellular location: Nucleoplasm
Quaternary structure: Homotrimer

OverviewNCBI Gene

Predicted to enable potassium channel activity. Predicted to be involved in regulation of release of sequestered calcium ion into cytosol. Predicted to act upstream of or within several processes, including cellular response to caffeine; monoatomic cation transmembrane transport; and regulation of cardiac muscle contraction by regulation of the release of sequestered calcium ion. Located in extracellular exosome. [provided by Alliance of Genome Resources, Jul 2025]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

299 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q9H6F2|TMEM38A
     1  MELLSALSLG ELALSFSRVP LFPVFDLSYF IVSILYLKYE PGAVELSRRH PIASWLCAML
    61  HCFGSYILAD LLLGEPLIDY FSNNSSILLA SAVWYLIFFC PLDLFYKCVC FLPVKLIFVA
   121  MKEVVRVRKI AVGIHHAHHH YHHGWFVMIA TGWVKGSGVA LMSNFEQLLR GVWKPETNEI
   181  LHMSFPTKAS LYGAILFTLQ QTRWLPVSKA SLIFIFTLFM VSCKVFLTAT HSHSSPFDAL
   241  EGYICPVLFG SACGGDHHHD NHGGSHSGGG PGAQHSAMPA KSKEELSEGS RKKKAKKAD

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against TMEM38A 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: Other membrane
Secreted: No
Transmembrane segments: 7
Mean surface accessibility (rSASA): 0.36
Highest tissue expression: 544 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

skeletal muscle: 544 nTPM
tongue: 242 nTPM
choroid plexus: 101 nTPM
cerebral cortex: 28 nTPM
basal ganglia: 25 nTPM
heart muscle: 25 nTPM

Single-cell type

myonuclei: 848 nCPM
thymic myoid cells: 193 nCPM
cone photoreceptor cells: 174 nCPM
retinal pigment epithelial cells: 158 nCPM
choroid plexus epithelial cells: 102 nCPM
epididymal clear cells: 82 nCPM

Immune cell

basophil: 37 nTPM
eosinophil: 12 nTPM
naive B-cell: 6 nTPM
memory B-cell: 4.6 nTPM
classical monocyte: 4.2 nTPM
NK-cell: 3.5 nTPM

Brain region

choroid plexus: 111 nTPM
thalamus: 34 nTPM
hypothalamus: 33 nTPM
cerebral cortex: 33 nTPM
basal ganglia: 31 nTPM
midbrain: 29 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): 1.03
gnomAD pLI: 0
gnomAD missense Z: 0.93
DepMap mean gene effect: -0.12
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

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

KeywordsUniProt

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

Seroatlas reads TMEM38A as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against TMEM38A could matter depends on whether native TMEM38A is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

TMEM38A 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 TMEM38A as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

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