Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

USP38

Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase 38

Also known as: HP43.8KD, KIAA1891, UBP38_HUMAN

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

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
Q8NB14
Gene
USP38
Ensembl
ENSG00000170185
Chromosome
4
Canonical length
1042 aa
Protein class
Enzymes, Metabolic proteins, Predicted intracellular proteins
Subcellular location
Nucleoplasm,Centrosome,Cytosol

OverviewNCBI Gene

Enables cysteine-type deubiquitinase activity and protein sequestering activity. Involved in negative regulation of innate immune response; negative regulation of proteasomal ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic process; and protein K33-linked deubiquitination. Is active in cytoplasm. [provided by Alliance of Genome Resources, Apr 2025]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

1042 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q8NB14|USP38
     1  MDKILEGLVS SSHPLPLKRV IVRKVVESAE HWLDEAQCEA MFDLTTRLIL EGQDPFQRQV
    61  GHQVLEAYAR YHRPEFESFF NKTFVLGLLH QGYHSLDRKD VAILDYIHNG LKLIMSCPSV
   121  LDLFSLLQVE VLRMVCERPE PQLCARLSDL LTDFVQCIPK GKLSITFCQQ LVRTIGHFQC
   181  VSTQERELRE YVSQVTKVSN LLQNIWKAEP ATLLPSLQEV FASISSTDAS FEPSVALASL
   241  VQHIPLQMIT VLIRSLTTDP NVKDASMTQA LCRMIDWLSW PLAQHVDTWV IALLKGLAAV
   301  QKFTILIDVT LLKIELVFNR LWFPLVRPGA LAVLSHMLLS FQHSPEAFHL IVPHVVNLVH
   361  SFKNDGLPSS TAFLVQLTEL IHCMMYHYSG FPDLYEPILE AIKDFPKPSE EKIKLILNQS
   421  AWTSQSNSLA SCLSRLSGKS ETGKTGLINL GNTCYMNSVI QALFMATDFR RQVLSLNLNG
   481  CNSLMKKLQH LFAFLAHTQR EAYAPRIFFE ASRPPWFTPR SQQDCSEYLR FLLDRLHEEE
   541  KILKVQASHK PSEILECSET SLQEVASKAA VLTETPRTSD GEKTLIEKMF GGKLRTHIRC
   601  LNCRSTSQKV EAFTDLSLAF CPSSSLENMS VQDPASSPSI QDGGLMQASV PGPSEEPVVY
   661  NPTTAAFICD SLVNEKTIGS PPNEFYCSEN TSVPNESNKI LVNKDVPQKP GGETTPSVTD
   721  LLNYFLAPEI LTGDNQYYCE NCASLQNAEK TMQITEEPEY LILTLLRFSY DQKYHVRRKI
   781  LDNVSLPLVL ELPVKRITSF SSLSESWSVD VDFTDLSENL AKKLKPSGTD EASCTKLVPY
   841  LLSSVVVHSG ISSESGHYYS YARNITSTDS SYQMYHQSEA LALASSQSHL LGRDSPSAVF
   901  EQDLENKEMS KEWFLFNDSR VTFTSFQSVQ KITSRFPKDT AYVLLYKKQH STNGLSGNNP
   961  TSGLWINGDP PLQKELMDAI TKDNKLYLQE QELNARARAL QAASASCSFR PNGFDDNDPP
  1021  GSCGPTGGGG GGGFNTVGRL VF

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against USP38 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)
0.37
Highest tissue expression
16 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • bone marrow: 16 nTPM
  • skeletal muscle: 6.8 nTPM
  • liver: 5.6 nTPM
  • tongue: 3.9 nTPM
  • thymus: 3.2 nTPM
  • testis: 2.9 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • endometrial glandular cells: 162 nCPM
  • endometrial luminal cells: 105 nCPM
  • neutrophils: 104 nCPM
  • endometrial secretory cells: 95 nCPM
  • conjunctival goblet cells: 93 nCPM
  • endometrial stromal cells: 90 nCPM

Immune cell

  • basophil: 5.2 nTPM
  • eosinophil: 4.6 nTPM
  • NK-cell: 3.7 nTPM
  • non-classical monocyte: 3.2 nTPM
  • T-reg: 3.2 nTPM
  • MAIT T-cell: 3 nTPM

Brain region

  • white matter: 11 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 10 nTPM
  • spinal cord: 9.8 nTPM
  • choroid plexus: 8.8 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 8.6 nTPM
  • basal ganglia: 8.5 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)
0.64
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
1.04
DepMap mean gene effect
-0.07
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 USP38 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 USP38 as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against USP38 could matter depends on whether native USP38 is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

USP38 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 USP38 as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/USP38. 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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