Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

TSPO

Translocator protein

Also known as: BZRP, DBI, IBP, MBR, mDRC, PBR, pk18, PKBS, TSPO_HUMAN, TSPO1

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
P30536
Gene
TSPO
Ensembl
ENSG00000100300
Chromosome
22
Canonical length
169 aa
Protein class
Cancer-related genes, FDA approved drug targets, Predicted membrane proteins
Subcellular location
Vesicles,Mitochondria,Cytosol

OverviewNCBI Gene

Present mainly in the mitochondrial compartment of peripheral tissues, the protein encoded by this gene interacts with some benzodiazepines and has different affinities than its endogenous counterpart. The protein is a key factor in the flow of cholesterol into mitochondria to permit the initiation of steroid hormone synthesis. Alternatively spliced transcript variants have been reported; one of the variants lacks an internal exon and is considered non-coding, and the other variants encode the same protein. [provided by RefSeq, Feb 2012]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

169 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>P30536|TSPO
     1  MAPPWVPAMG FTLAPSLGCF VGSRFVHGEG LRWYAGLQKP SWHPPHWVLG PVWGTLYSAM
    61  GYGSYLVWKE LGGFTEKAVV PLGLYTGQLA LNWAWPPIFF GARQMGWALV DLLLVSGAAA
   121  ATTVAWYQVS PLAARLLYPY LAWLAFTTTL NYCVWRDNHG WRGGRRLPE

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against TSPO 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
5
Mean surface accessibility (rSASA)
0.33
Highest tissue expression
704 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • esophagus: 704 nTPM
  • bone marrow: 461 nTPM
  • skin: 390 nTPM
  • vagina: 356 nTPM
  • cervix: 291 nTPM
  • adipose tissue: 248 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • esophageal apical cells: 4,707 nCPM
  • esophageal suprabasal cells: 3,417 nCPM
  • esophageal basal cells: 1,664 nCPM
  • neutrophils: 1,552 nCPM
  • suprabasal keratinocytes: 1,289 nCPM
  • neutrophil progenitors: 1,082 nCPM

Immune cell

  • classical monocyte: 1,682 nTPM
  • total PBMC: 1,586 nTPM
  • myeloid DC: 1,173 nTPM
  • neutrophil: 1,058 nTPM
  • intermediate monocyte: 1,053 nTPM
  • eosinophil: 934 nTPM

Brain region

  • white matter: 93 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 79 nTPM
  • thalamus: 76 nTPM
  • spinal cord: 71 nTPM
  • pons: 58 nTPM
  • hypothalamus: 56 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)
1.53
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
0.96
DepMap mean gene effect
0.08
DepMap dependency class
none

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

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

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