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DCST2

gene
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Also known as FLJ32934

Summary

DCST2 (DC-STAMP domain containing 2, HGNC:26562) is a protein-coding gene on chromosome 1q21.3, encoding DC-STAMP domain-containing protein 2 (Q5T1A1). Essential sperm cell-surface protein required for sperm-egg fusion and fertilization.

Predicted to be involved in fusion of sperm to egg plasma membrane involved in single fertilization and sperm-egg recognition. Predicted to be located in acrosomal membrane.

Source: NCBI Gene 127579 — automated summary from GO annotations (Alliance of Genome Resources).

At a glance

  • GWAS associations: 47 (top 2% of genes corpus-wide)
  • Clinical variants (ClinVar): 185 total
  • GTEx eGene: eQTL in 36 tissues, sQTL in 28 (q < 0.05)
  • Constraint (gnomAD): pLI 0.00 (LoF-tolerant), LOEUF 0.94 (unconstrained)
  • MANE Select transcript: NM_144622
  • Notable: 185 clinical variants but no curated precision-oncology (CIViC) evidence yet

Identifiers

Gene identifiers

FieldValue
HGNC IDHGNC:26562
Approved symbolDCST2
NameDC-STAMP domain containing 2
Location1q21.3
Locus typegene with protein product
StatusApproved
AliasesFLJ32934
Ensembl geneENSG00000163354
Ensembl biotypeprotein_coding
OMIM619861
Entrez127579

Gene structure

Transcript identifiers

Ensembl transcripts: 5 — 2 retained_intron, 2 nonsense_mediated_decay, 1 protein_coding

MANE Select: ENST00000368424

Transcript support level (Ensembl TSL; 1 = fully mRNA-supported): TSL 1: 1, TSL 2: 2, TSL 3: 1, TSL 4: 1

ENST00000368424, ENST00000368423, ENST00000467991, ENST00000485982, ENST00000498036

RefSeq mRNA: 1 — MANE Select: NM_144622 NM_144622

CCDS: CCDS1082

Canonical transcript exons

ENST00000368424 — 15 exons

ExonStartEnd
ENSE00001073688155031169155031234
ENSE00001073690155032667155032768
ENSE00001073698155033094155033264
ENSE00001073701155030432155030645
ENSE00001073704155031574155031771
ENSE00001852891155018527155018760
ENSE00002176765155033434155033781
ENSE00003458531155029233155029397
ENSE00003476191155023117155023257
ENSE00003484939155026302155026402
ENSE00003497659155030084155030241
ENSE00003500680155023832155023959
ENSE00003522499155026548155026715
ENSE00003565312155023364155023457
ENSE00003606590155024472155024602

Expression profiles

Bgee: expression breadth ubiquitous, 155 present calls, max score 84.80.

FANTOM5 (CAGE): breadth tissue_specific, TPM avg 0.0330 / max 18.6825, expressed in 8 samples.

Highest expression (Bgee): testis, skin of abdomen, skin of leg, male germ line stem cell (sensu Vertebrata) in testis, lower esophagus mucosa.

Genetic regulation across tissues (GTEx eQTL / sQTL)

DCST2 is an eGene in GTEx v10 — its expression is genetically regulated (eQTL) in 36 tissues and its splicing (sQTL) in 28 (q < 0.05). Strongest associations first; slope = normalized effect of the lead variant’s alternative allele.

showing 20 of 64 significant tissue × QTL associations:

TissueQTLq-valueSlopeLead variant
Skin Not Sun Exposed Suprapubicsqtl2.3e-129-1.271:155029453:T:C
Skin Sun Exposed Lower legsqtl1.1e-124-1.201:155028528:G:C
Nerve Tibialsqtl1.3e-96+1.161:155029453:T:C
Testissqtl3.5e-84-1.171:155029453:T:C
Esophagus Mucosasqtl2.2e-38-0.881:155029453:T:C
Adipose Subcutaneoussqtl7.3e-37-0.791:155029453:T:C
Breast Mammary Tissuesqtl6.3e-34-0.971:155027894:C:T
Thyroidsqtl7.0e-33-0.761:155029453:T:C
Brain Cerebellar Hemisphereeqtl1.3e-30-0.621:155029453:T:C
Brain Cerebellumeqtl4.9e-27-0.801:155029453:T:C
Brain Nucleus accumbens basal gangliaeqtl1.6e-21-0.611:155029453:T:C
Thyroideqtl1.2e-20-0.271:155029453:T:C
Colon Transversesqtl1.2e-18-0.701:155028528:G:C
Brain Cortexeqtl2.2e-18-0.591:155029453:T:C
Prostatesqtl7.0e-16-0.901:155028528:G:C
Adipose Visceral Omentumsqtl1.7e-15-0.591:155028528:G:C
Stomachsqtl7.6e-15-0.711:155029453:T:C
Lungsqtl3.7e-14-0.581:155025198:T:A
Pituitaryeqtl1.3e-13-0.401:155025198:T:A
Artery Tibialsqtl2.5e-13+0.481:155027894:C:T

FANTOM5 promoters

4 alternative TSS:

Promoter IDTPM avgSamples expressed
148910.01883
148930.00753
148940.00342
148920.00332

Top tissues by expression

showing 100 of 252 tissues by Bgee expression score (0-100, higher = more expressed):

TissueAnatomy IDExpression scoreQuality
right testisUBERON:000453484.80gold quality
left testisUBERON:000453383.90gold quality
skin of abdomenUBERON:000141683.04gold quality
skin of legUBERON:000151181.41gold quality
testisUBERON:000047380.31gold quality
male germ line stem cell (sensu Vertebrata) in testisCL:0000089 ∩ UBERON:000047380.23gold quality
lower esophagus mucosaUBERON:003583479.49gold quality
zone of skinUBERON:000001477.47gold quality
ectocervixUBERON:001224975.39gold quality
tibial nerveUBERON:000132375.12gold quality
olfactory segment of nasal mucosaUBERON:000538674.16gold quality
right lobe of liverUBERON:000111474.11gold quality
endocervixUBERON:000045873.95gold quality
minor salivary glandUBERON:000183073.91gold quality
vaginaUBERON:000099673.86gold quality
mucosa of transverse colonUBERON:000499173.62gold quality
esophagus mucosaUBERON:000246972.54gold quality
granulocyteCL:000009471.47gold quality
transverse colonUBERON:000115771.05gold quality
small intestine Peyer’s patchUBERON:000345470.53gold quality
mouth mucosaUBERON:000372970.38gold quality
saliva-secreting glandUBERON:000104469.28gold quality
right uterine tubeUBERON:000130269.22gold quality
body of uterusUBERON:000985369.05gold quality
cerebellar hemisphereUBERON:000224568.99gold quality
left ovaryUBERON:000211968.89gold quality
cerebellar cortexUBERON:000212968.80gold quality
body of stomachUBERON:000116168.73gold quality
uterine cervixUBERON:000000268.60gold quality
right hemisphere of cerebellumUBERON:001489068.51gold quality
esophagusUBERON:000104368.32gold quality
left uterine tubeUBERON:000130367.91gold quality
right ovaryUBERON:000211867.79gold quality
right lobe of thyroid glandUBERON:000111967.49gold quality
small intestineUBERON:000210867.42gold quality
right adrenal gland cortexUBERON:003582767.36gold quality
omental fat padUBERON:001041467.30gold quality
peritoneumUBERON:000235867.22gold quality
left lobe of thyroid glandUBERON:000112067.21gold quality
cerebellumUBERON:000203766.71gold quality
prostate glandUBERON:000236766.69gold quality
thyroid glandUBERON:000204666.22gold quality
subcutaneous adipose tissueUBERON:000219066.16gold quality
left coronary arteryUBERON:000162665.87gold quality
adipose tissue of abdominal regionUBERON:000780865.84gold quality
right adrenal glandUBERON:000123365.76gold quality
tibial arteryUBERON:000761065.69gold quality
popliteal arteryUBERON:000225065.68gold quality
esophagogastric junction muscularis propriaUBERON:003584165.43gold quality
mucosa of stomachUBERON:000119965.42gold quality
descending thoracic aortaUBERON:000234565.39gold quality
aortaUBERON:000094765.31gold quality
ascending aortaUBERON:000149665.29gold quality
muscle layer of sigmoid colonUBERON:003580565.17gold quality
thoracic aortaUBERON:000151565.16gold quality
apex of heartUBERON:000209865.10gold quality
gall bladderUBERON:000211065.02gold quality
left adrenal gland cortexUBERON:003582564.84gold quality
C1 segment of cervical spinal cordUBERON:000646964.72gold quality
lower esophagusUBERON:001347364.36gold quality
primordial germ cell in gonadCL:0000670 ∩ UBERON:000099164.35gold quality
coronary arteryUBERON:000162164.34gold quality
left adrenal glandUBERON:000123464.32gold quality
lower esophagus muscularis layerUBERON:003583364.30gold quality
stromal cell of endometriumCL:000225564.27gold quality
stomachUBERON:000094564.18gold quality
right coronary arteryUBERON:000162564.15gold quality
ventricular zoneUBERON:000305363.80gold quality
adrenal cortexUBERON:000123563.62gold quality
ovaryUBERON:000099263.60gold quality
hindlimb stylopod muscleUBERON:000425263.56gold quality
intestineUBERON:000016063.49gold quality
colonUBERON:000115563.38gold quality
fundus of stomachUBERON:000116062.96gold quality
sural nerveUBERON:001548862.79silver quality
ileal mucosaUBERON:000033162.76silver quality
large intestineUBERON:000005962.59gold quality
spinal cordUBERON:000224062.50gold quality
pancreatic ductal cellCL:000207962.43silver quality
right lungUBERON:000216762.19gold quality
gastrocnemiusUBERON:000138862.10gold quality
anatomical systemUBERON:000046762.08gold quality
smooth muscle tissueUBERON:000113562.05gold quality
spleenUBERON:000210662.00gold quality
metanephros cortexUBERON:001053361.94gold quality
upper lobe of left lungUBERON:000895261.64gold quality
multicellular organismUBERON:000046861.63gold quality
material anatomical entityUBERON:000046561.61gold quality
rectumUBERON:000105261.55gold quality
muscle of legUBERON:000138361.29gold quality
adenohypophysisUBERON:000219661.18gold quality
upper lobe of lungUBERON:000894860.84gold quality
adrenal glandUBERON:000236960.79gold quality
body of pancreasUBERON:000115060.70gold quality
adipose tissueUBERON:000101360.59gold quality
heart left ventricleUBERON:000208460.40gold quality
hypothalamusUBERON:000189860.27gold quality
female reproductive systemUBERON:000047460.17gold quality
right frontal lobeUBERON:000281059.79gold quality
leukocyteCL:000073859.75gold quality

Single-cell (SCXA)

Detected in 2 experiment(s), a significant marker in 0.

ExperimentMarker?Max mean expression
E-MTAB-8060no47.13
E-ANND-3no2.20

HPA expression

RNA tissue specificity: Tissue enhanced

showing 60 of 65 HPA tissues / cells by nTPM:

Tissue / cellAxisnTPM
Retinatissue7.9
Skin 1tissue4.3
Testistissue2.0
Vaginatissue1.5
Salivary glandtissue1.3
Duodenumtissue1.2
Small intestinetissue0.8
Fallopian tubetissue0.8
Seminal vesicletissue0.6
Epididymistissue0.6
Prostatetissue0.6
Breasttissue0.5
Stomach 1tissue0.5
Cerebral cortextissue0.5
Endometrium 1tissue0.5
Medulla oblongatatissue0.5
Somatosensory cortextissue0.5
Cervixtissue0.4
Adipose tissuetissue0.4
Esophagustissue0.4
Rectumtissue0.4
Colontissue0.4
Amygdalatissue0.4
Entorhinal cortextissue0.4
Retrosplenial and cingulate cortextissue0.4
Lymph nodetissue0.3
Heart muscletissue0.3
Ponstissue0.3
Ovarytissue0.3
Livertissue0.3
Thymustissue0.3
Hippocampal formationtissue0.3
Pituitary glandtissue0.2
Skeletal muscletissue0.2
Smooth muscletissue0.2
Frontal cortextissue0.2
Putamentissue0.2
Nucleus accumbenstissue0.2
Choroid plexustissue0.2
Midbraintissue0.2
Thalamustissue0.2
Placentatissue0.2
Thyroid glandtissue0.2
Spinal cordtissue0.2
Corpus callosumtissue0.2
Tonsiltissue0.2
Retrosplenial cortextissue0.2
Occipital cortextissue0.2
Urinary bladdertissue0.1
Basal gangliatissue0.1
Hypothalamustissue0.1
Cerebellumtissue0.1
Substantia nigratissue0.1
Lungtissue0.1
Spleentissue0.1
Gallbladdertissue0.1
Kidneytissue0.1
Locus coeruleustissue0.1
Hippocampustissue0.1
Adrenal glandtissue0.1

Brain sub-regions (HPA Brain Atlas): detected in 161; highest nTPM — Medial olivary nucleus (0.5), Temporal white matter (0.5), Corpus callosum, genu (white matter) (0.4), Nucleus tractus solitarii (0.4), Pontine nuclei (0.4).

Regulation

Is transcription factor: no

Functional genomics

gnomAD constraint: pLI 5.52e-17, LOEUF 0.941, missense Z 1.06 — population loss-of-function intolerance (pLI ≥ 0.9 = LoF-intolerant; lower LOEUF = more constrained). gnomAD

Regional missense constraint (gnomAD RMC): no regional variation along ENST00000368424 — one region, missense o/e 0.94.

Literature-anchored findings (GeneRIF, showing 2)

  • OS9 is critically involved in the modulation of ER-to-Golgi transport of DC-STAMP in response to TLR triggering, suggesting a novel role for OS9 in myeloid differentiation and cell fusion. (PMID:18952287)
  • This study highlights that common variation in DCST2 influences variation in early growth and adult height. (PMID:25281659)

Cross-species orthologs

5 orthologs

OrganismSymbolGene ID
danio_reriodcst2ENSDARG00000088693
mus_musculusDcst2ENSMUSG00000109293
rattus_norvegicusDcst2ENSRNOG00000058618
drosophila_melanogasterCG6845FBGN0035099
drosophila_melanogasterCG32320FBGN0052320

Paralogs (3): OCSTAMP (ENSG00000149635), DCST1 (ENSG00000163357), DCSTAMP (ENSG00000164935)

Mouse-model phenotypes

Observed phenotypes of the mouse ortholog (MGI:2685606) from MGI (Alliance of Genome Resources) — knockout/mutant phenotypes, ranked by annotation count. 3 distinct phenotype terms.

Mouse phenotype (MP)Records
impaired fertilization1
male infertility1
preweaning lethality, complete penetrance1

Genomic neighbors (locus context)

Genes flanking this one on the chromosome (NCBI/Entrez gene neighborhood). Positional context only — some neighbors share regulatory elements (bidirectional promoters, antisense/overlapping transcripts), but chromosomal adjacency is not itself a functional relationship (see Interactions for that).

SymbolTypeEntrez
ADAM15-EFNA4ncRNA125467744
EFNA4-EFNA3protein-coding125467750
DCST1protein-coding149095
EFNA1protein-coding1942
EFNA3protein-coding1944
EFNA4protein-coding1945
ZBTB7Bprotein-coding51043
ADAM15protein-coding8751
DCST1-AS1ncRNA100505666
LENEPprotein-coding55891
FLAD1protein-coding80308
MIR4258ncRNA100423020
CKS1Bprotein-coding1163

Protein

Protein identifiers

DC-STAMP domain-containing protein 2 — Q5T1A1 (reviewed: Q5T1A1)

All UniProt accessions (2): Q5T1A1, H0YF62

UniProt curated annotations — full annotation on UniProt →

Function. Essential sperm cell-surface protein required for sperm-egg fusion and fertilization.

Subunit / interactions. Interacts with DCST1.

Subcellular location. Cytoplasmic vesicle. Secretory vesicle. Acrosome membrane.

Isoforms (2)

UniProt IDNamesCanonical?
Q5T1A1-11yes
Q5T1A1-22

RefSeq proteins (1): NP_653223* (*=MANE)

Domains & families (InterPro)

IDNameType
IPR012858DC_STAMP-likeDomain
IPR051856CSR-E3_Ligase_ProteinFamily
IPR058842DCST1_CDomain

Pfam: PF07782, PF26037, PF26039

UniProt features (22 total): topological domain 7, transmembrane region 6, glycosylation site 3, compositionally biased region 2, splice variant 2, chain 1, region of interest 1

Structure

Predicted structure (AlphaFold)

ModelpLDDTFraction very-high
AF-Q5T1A1-F173.490.17

Human Protein Atlas

Protein class: Predicted membrane proteins, UniProt - Evidence at transcript level

Protein evidence: Evidence at protein level

Functional residue map

Curated UniProt residues grouped by drug-discovery relevance — catalytic, ligand-binding, modification, and mutation-validated positions. Source: UniProtKB sequence features.

Glycosylation sites (3)

TypePositions
N-linked (glcnac…) asparagine284, 296, 480

Function

Pathways and Gene Ontology

Reactome pathways

0 curated (TAS) of 0; 0 disease pathways. Curated-first; evidence = TAS (manually curated) vs IEA (electronic inference).

MSigDB gene sets: 40 (showing top): GOBP_SINGLE_FERTILIZATION, GOCC_SECRETORY_GRANULE, GOBP_MEMBRANE_FUSION, GOBP_PLASMA_MEMBRANE_ORGANIZATION, GOBP_SPERM_EGG_RECOGNITION, GOBP_CELLULAR_PROCESS_INVOLVED_IN_REPRODUCTION_IN_MULTICELLULAR_ORGANISM, GOBP_ENDOMEMBRANE_SYSTEM_ORGANIZATION, GOBP_PLASMA_MEMBRANE_FUSION, GOBP_MEMBRANE_ORGANIZATION, GOBP_FERTILIZATION, GOBP_CELL_CELL_RECOGNITION, GOCC_ACROSOMAL_MEMBRANE, GOCC_SECRETORY_VESICLE, chr1q21, GOCC_SECRETORY_GRANULE_MEMBRANE

GO Biological Process (2): fusion of sperm to egg plasma membrane involved in single fertilization (GO:0007342), sperm-egg recognition (GO:0035036)

GO Cellular Component (3): acrosomal membrane (GO:0002080), membrane (GO:0016020), cytoplasmic vesicle (GO:0031410)

GO top-level categories

8 GO namespaces:

CategoryTerms
single fertilization2
cellular process involved in reproduction in multicellular organism1
cell-cell recognition1
acrosomal vesicle1
secretory granule membrane1
cellular anatomical structure1
cytoplasm1
intracellular vesicle1

Protein interactions and networks

STRING

showing 15 of 310 interactions by confidence (×1000):

Protein AProtein BPartner UniProtScore
DCST2SPACA6W5XKT8846
DCST2TMEM95Q3KNT9836
DCST2IZUMO1Q8IYV9732
DCST2FIMP1Q96LL3701
DCST2DCST1Q5T197494
DCST2IZUMO1RA6ND01478
DCST2CLGNO14967474
DCST2SPACA4Q8TDM5439
DCST2FREY1C9JXX5406
DCST2CD9P21926406
DCST2PRAMEF6Q5VXH4400
DCST2TMEM71Q6P5X7381
DCST2COBLL1Q53SF7380
DCST2SPACA9Q96E40370
DCST2LGMNQ99538364

IntAct

BioGRID (3 interactions; top human partners by supporting records): BRCA2 (Affinity Capture-MS), PARP9 (Proximity Label-MS), RNF208 (Affinity Capture-MS)

Disease & clinical

Genetic variants

Variant evidence for DCST2: 185 ClinVar records (0 pathogenic / likely pathogenic); 47 GWAS associations.

ClinVar

185 variants total. Per-class counts are floors (≥ shown; pagination cap):

ClassificationCount (floor)
Pathogenic0
Likely pathogenic0
Uncertain significance159
Likely benign11
Benign0

SpliceAI

Top 10 splice-impact sites by Δscore (adjacent positions with the same effect merged into one range; 30 predictions of 1,628):

Position(s)EffectΔscoreSites
1:155032665–155032666donor_loss1.00004
1:155033092–155033093donor_loss1.00004
1:155026300–155026301donor_loss0.99005
1:155026403–155026404acceptor_loss0.99006
1:155026501donor_gain0.9900
1:155026621donor_gain0.9900
1:155026716–155026717acceptor_loss0.99006
1:155030654acceptor_gain0.9900
1:155030663acceptor_gain0.9900
1:155031547donor_gain0.9900

AlphaMissense

918 missense substitutions predicted likely pathogenic (of 4,979 scored), across 332 residues. Top 20 hotspot residues, ranked by the number of likely-pathogenic substitutions (of those reachable by a single-nucleotide change), then by mean score:

ResidueLikely-pathogenic substitutionsMean am_pathogenicityMax am_pathogenicity
D42680.9500.973
N11580.9270.991
F28180.8830.972
F36380.8750.979
F28380.8720.989
N35680.8650.977
F21380.8110.941
C19870.9810.992
C24270.9740.988
C20970.9700.989
C25270.9650.981
C23170.9610.981
C22070.9570.975
C48870.9450.976
C12570.9410.968
C63870.9350.958
C61770.9270.955
C64170.9190.957
C63070.9130.946
C62270.9030.946

HPA cancer prognostics

RNA cancer specificity: Not detected

Disease associations

OMIM: gene MIM:619861 | disease phenotypes:

GWAS associations

showing 30 of 47 associations:

StudyTraitp-value
GCST90000025_209Appendicular lean mass8e-77
GCST007294_150Body fat distribution (trunk fat ratio)8e-35
GCST007295_72Body fat distribution (leg fat ratio)1e-28
GCST007294_159Body fat distribution (trunk fat ratio)6e-21
GCST90020025_170Waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI1e-20
GCST90020027_58Waist-hip index1e-19
GCST008362_149Birth weight3e-19
GCST010303_17Nevus count or cutaneous melanoma2e-18
GCST007295_112Body fat distribution (leg fat ratio)7e-17
GCST010700_5Cortical thickness (MOSTest)8e-17
GCST007294_25Body fat distribution (trunk fat ratio)1e-15
GCST010304_26Cutaneous malignant melanoma4e-15
GCST90020025_172Waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI2e-14
GCST010703_205Brain morphology (MOSTest)4e-14
GCST90020027_60Waist-hip index1e-13
GCST90020024_1180A body shape index2e-13
GCST007295_17Body fat distribution (leg fat ratio)3e-13
GCST90020028_1245Hip circumference adjusted for BMI1e-12
GCST008362_41Birth weight7e-11
GCST010696_10Cortical thickness (min-P)2e-10
GCST002782_131Waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index3e-10
GCST002782_230Waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index3e-10
GCST010697_21Cortical surface area (min-P)3e-10
GCST010702_25Subcortical volume (MOSTest)3e-10
GCST010796_4677Electrocardiogram morphology (amplitude at temporal datapoints)4e-10
GCST002782_228Waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index5e-10
GCST002782_229Waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index7e-10
GCST010699_50Brain morphology (min-P)7e-10
GCST90020028_1244Hip circumference adjusted for BMI8e-10
GCST010698_84Subcortical volume (min-P)9e-10

EFO canonical traits (from GWAS)

15 canonical traits:

EFO IDTrait name
EFO:0006784body height at birth
EFO:0007788BMI-adjusted waist-hip ratio
EFO:0004318smoking behavior
EFO:0004341body fat distribution
EFO:0004344birth weight
EFO:0005939parental genotype effect measurement
EFO:0004612high density lipoprotein cholesterol measurement
EFO:0004632nevus count
EFO:0004346neuroimaging measurement
EFO:0004840cortical thickness
EFO:0004327electrocardiography
EFO:0004980appendicular lean mass
EFO:0004842eosinophil count
EFO:0007789BMI-adjusted waist circumference
EFO:0008039BMI-adjusted hip circumference

Drugs & pharmacology

Drug and pharmacology data

Is drug target: no

PharmGKB: 1 entry (CPIC guideline: no)

CTD chemical–gene interactions

10 total (human), top 10 by PubMed support.

ChemicalActions (top 5)PubMed papers
Aflatoxin B1increases methylation, decreases methylation2
triphenyl phosphateaffects expression1
propionaldehydedecreases expression1
di-n-butylphosphoric acidaffects expression1
CGP 52608affects binding, increases reaction1
Sunitinibincreases expression1
Amiodaroneincreases expression1
Tobacco Smoke Pollutiondecreases expression1
Valproic Acidincreases methylation1
Okadaic Aciddecreases expression1

Clinical trials (associated diseases)

Via MONDO — disease-level, not drug-specific.

No linked Atlas pages yet — the cross-entity mesh grows as the corpus expands.