INHBC

gene
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Summary

INHBC (inhibin subunit beta C, HGNC:6068) is a protein-coding gene on chromosome 12q13.3, encoding Inhibin beta C chain (P55103). Inhibins and activins inhibit and activate, respectively, the secretion of follitropin by the pituitary gland.

This gene encodes a member of the TGF-beta (transforming growth factor-beta) superfamily of proteins. The encoded preproprotein is proteolytically processed to generate a subunit of homodimeric and heterodimeric activin complexes. The heterodimeric complex may function in the inhibition of activin A signaling. Transgenic mice overexpressing this gene exhibit defects in testis, liver and prostate.

Source: NCBI Gene 3626 — RefSeq curated summary.

At a glance

  • GWAS associations: 32
  • Clinical variants (ClinVar): 48 total
  • MANE Select transcript: NM_005538

Identifiers

Gene identifiers

FieldValue
HGNC IDHGNC:6068
Approved symbolINHBC
Nameinhibin subunit beta C
Location12q13.3
Locus typegene with protein product
StatusApproved
Ensembl geneENSG00000175189
Ensembl biotypeprotein_coding
OMIM601233
Entrez3626

Gene structure

Transcript identifiers

Ensembl transcripts: 1 — 1 protein_coding

ENST00000309668

RefSeq mRNA: 1 — MANE Select: NM_005538 NM_005538

CCDS: CCDS8938

Canonical transcript exons

ENST00000309668 — 2 exons

ExonStartEnd
ENSE000011794415744927757452062
ENSE000012904625743478457435199

Expression profiles

Bgee: expression breadth broad, 43 present calls, max score 95.97.

FANTOM5 (CAGE): breadth tissue_specific, TPM avg 0.6041 / max 281.1764, expressed in 14 samples.

FANTOM5 promoters (10 alternative TSS)

Promoter IDTPM avgSamples expressed
1262030.25147
1262010.102310
1262040.06886
1262060.04568
1262050.03337
1262020.03056
1262000.02627
1262070.01857
1261980.01417
1261990.01348

Top tissues by expression

232 total, by Bgee expression score (0-100, higher = more expressed):

TissueAnatomy IDExpression scoreQuality
right lobe of liverUBERON:000111495.97gold quality
liverUBERON:000210786.13gold quality
male germ line stem cell (sensu Vertebrata) in testisCL:0000089 ∩ UBERON:000047380.44gold quality
endometrium epitheliumUBERON:000481166.12gold quality
frontal poleUBERON:000279566.06gold quality
tibialis anteriorUBERON:000138565.83gold quality
middle frontal gyrusUBERON:000270265.78gold quality
paraflocculusUBERON:000535165.71gold quality
cerebellar vermisUBERON:000472065.60gold quality
diaphragmUBERON:000110365.49gold quality
pancreatic ductal cellCL:000207963.05silver quality
spermCL:000001960.47gold quality
male germ cellCL:000001559.82gold quality
ileal mucosaUBERON:000033159.58gold quality
Brodmann (1909) area 10UBERON:001354159.56gold quality
oocyteCL:000002359.26gold quality
mucosa of urinary bladderUBERON:000125957.05gold quality
deltoidUBERON:000147655.74silver quality
thymusUBERON:000237055.70gold quality
quadriceps femorisUBERON:000137755.55gold quality
colonic epitheliumUBERON:000039753.21gold quality
vastus lateralisUBERON:000137953.16gold quality
upper leg skinUBERON:000426251.90gold quality
epithelial cell of pancreasCL:000008351.73silver quality
metanephric glomerulusUBERON:000473650.57gold quality
blood vessel layerUBERON:000479750.54gold quality
cortical plateUBERON:000534350.43gold quality
ventricular zoneUBERON:000305350.14gold quality
nephron tubuleUBERON:000123150.13gold quality
renal glomerulusUBERON:000007449.85gold quality

Single-cell (SCXA)

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

ExperimentMarker?Max mean expression
E-GEOD-99795no10.54
E-ANND-3no1.63

Regulation

Is transcription factor: no

miRNA regulators (miRDB)

103 targeting INHBC, top 30 by miRDB confidence (max_score; target_count = how many genes the miRNA targets in total — lower means more specific):

miRNAMax scoreAvg scoremiRNA target_count
HSA-MIR-4283100.0066.422097
HSA-MIR-6748-5P100.0065.811057
HSA-MIR-1252-5P100.0069.802774
HSA-MIR-4747-5P100.0067.902681
HSA-MIR-5196-5P100.0067.982761
HSA-MIR-4673100.0066.641490
HSA-MIR-6870-5P99.9968.552115
HSA-MIR-477599.9875.006394
HSA-MIR-4723-5P99.9768.702034
HSA-MIR-569899.9768.492029
HSA-MIR-7111-5P99.9768.482062
HSA-MIR-6778-3P99.9667.292693
HSA-MIR-9983-3P99.9471.483631
HSA-MIR-129799.9173.413162
HSA-MIR-129-5P99.8870.263273
HSA-MIR-391999.8769.452489
HSA-MIR-3151-5P99.8663.831069
HSA-MIR-444799.8567.812900
HSA-MIR-132199.8465.301811
HSA-MIR-473999.8465.251832
HSA-MIR-4756-5P99.8464.981809
HSA-MIR-808099.8267.521342
HSA-MIR-34B-5P99.7867.561175
HSA-MIR-449C-5P99.7867.631168
HSA-MIR-129999.7771.242389
HSA-MIR-3934-3P99.7665.511351
HSA-MIR-3680-3P99.7572.513095
HSA-MIR-2682-5P99.7367.381055
HSA-MIR-1296-3P99.7264.04636
HSA-MIR-320299.6667.702737

Literature-anchored findings (GeneRIF, showing 17)

  • Results quantify the relative expression of inhibin alpha, inhibin/activin beta(A), beta(B), beta(C), follistatin, activin receptors and beta-glycan genes in placental tissue of term pre-eclamptic patients. (PMID:12651901)
  • Role for the activin betaC-subunit as a regulatory mechanism to reduce activin A secretion via intracellular heterodimerization. (PMID:12960042)
  • activin betaC subunit may exert its effect as inhibin C (PMID:16627954)
  • activin-beta(C) is an antagonist of activin A (PMID:19095948)
  • Expression of the inhibin betaC and betaE subunits was demonstrated at the protein level and at the transcriptional level in normal human endometrial tissue and in the Ishikawa human endometrial carcinoma cell line. (PMID:20012305)
  • Expression of inhibin beta C was detected in the human chorionic carcinoma cell lines JEG and BeWoand also in human placenta. (PMID:20458061)
  • in endometrial cancer tissue demonstrated a significant association with hemangiosis although without any impact on the patients’ survival (PMID:20683603)
  • the novel inhibin/activin-betaC subunit is expressed in human endometrioid adenocarcinomas and in the human endometrial carcinoma cell line HEC-1a (PMID:20952735)
  • differential expression pattern of the betaC- and betaE-subunits in normal human endometrial tissue suggests that they function in endometrial maturation and blastocyst implantation. (PMID:21092084)
  • inhibin-betaC in normal and pathological placental tissue was demonstrated, although no differences in staining intensity could be observed. Functional role of novel inhibin-betaC subunit in normal and pathological human placenta is still quite unclear. (PMID:21117833)
  • Data show that inhibin A levels were significantly lower in the PCOS group compared to the control group, and inhibin B levels were comparable in the two groups. (PMID:21529351)
  • Activin-beta(C) is a regulator of activin-A. Activin-beta(C) is able to abolish cachexia and modulate reproductive tumour development in inhibin alpha-subunit knockout mice (alpha-KO) mice. (PMID:23180294)
  • Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in INHBC gene is associated with brain metastasis in non-small-cell lung cancer (PMID:23284751)
  • The inhibin-betaC subunit is down-regulated, while inhibin-betaE is up-regulated by interferon-beta1a in Ishikawa carcinoma cell line. (PMID:23580013)
  • Serum inhibin levels correlate with clinical characteristics and mortality in epithelial ovarian cancer patients. (PMID:24599287)
  • Activin A, B, and AB have similar effects on steroidogenesis in human granulosa cells; in contrast, activin AC is not biologically active and does not act as a competitive antagonist. (PMID:25062451)
  • Study shows an up-regulation of activin-C in aggressive prostate cancer only, suggesting that activin-C may play a role in the advanced stages of the disease. (PMID:28116672)

Cross-species orthologs

3 orthologs

OrganismSymbolGene ID
danio_rerioENSDARG00000100986
mus_musculusInhbcENSMUSG00000025405
rattus_norvegicusInhbcENSRNOG00000007700

Paralogs (31): TGFB2 (ENSG00000092969), BMP7 (ENSG00000101144), TGFB1 (ENSG00000105329), BMP5 (ENSG00000112175), BMP8B (ENSG00000116985), TGFB3 (ENSG00000119699), INHBA (ENSG00000122641), INHA (ENSG00000123999), BMP4 (ENSG00000125378), BMP2 (ENSG00000125845), GDF5 (ENSG00000125965), GDF1 (ENSG00000130283), BMP15 (ENSG00000130385), GDF15 (ENSG00000130513), GDF11 (ENSG00000135414), MSTN (ENSG00000138379), INHBE (ENSG00000139269), LEFTY2 (ENSG00000143768), GDF7 (ENSG00000143869), BMP3 (ENSG00000152785), BMP6 (ENSG00000153162), GDF6 (ENSG00000156466), NODAL (ENSG00000156574), INHBB (ENSG00000163083), BMP10 (ENSG00000163217), GDF9 (ENSG00000164404), BMP8A (ENSG00000183682), GDF3 (ENSG00000184344), LEFTY1 (ENSG00000243709), GDF2 (ENSG00000263761), GDF10 (ENSG00000266524)

Protein

Protein identifiers

Inhibin beta C chainP55103 (reviewed: P55103)

Alternative names: Activin beta-C chain

All UniProt accessions (1): P55103

UniProt curated annotations — full annotation on UniProt →

Function. Inhibins and activins inhibit and activate, respectively, the secretion of follitropin by the pituitary gland. Inhibins/activins are involved in regulating a number of diverse functions such as hypothalamic and pituitary hormone secretion, gonadal hormone secretion, germ cell development and maturation, erythroid differentiation, insulin secretion, nerve cell survival, embryonic axial development or bone growth, depending on their subunit composition. Inhibins appear to oppose the functions of activins.

Subunit / interactions. Homodimeric or heterodimeric through association with alpha and beta subunits, linked by one or more disulfide bonds. Inhibins are heterodimers of one alpha and one beta subunit. Activins are homo- or heterodimers of beta subunits only.

Subcellular location. Secreted.

Tissue specificity. Expressed in benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Similarity. Belongs to the TGF-beta family.

RefSeq proteins (1): NP_005529* (*=MANE)

Domains & families (InterPro)

IDNameType
IPR001318Inhibin_betaCFamily
IPR001839TGF-b_CDomain
IPR015615TGF-beta-likeFamily
IPR017948TGFb_CSConserved_site
IPR029034Cystine-knot_cytokineHomologous_superfamily

Pfam: PF00019

UniProt features (12 total): disulfide bond 5, glycosylation site 3, signal peptide 1, propeptide 1, sequence variant 1, chain 1

Structure

Experimental structures (PDB)

0 structures.

Predicted structure (AlphaFold)

ModelpLDDTFraction very-high
AF-P55103-F175.210.23

Functional residue map

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

Disulfide bonds (5): 316, 240–248, 247–317, 276–349, 280–351

Glycosylation sites (3): 110, 143, 161

Function

Pathways and Gene Ontology

Reactome pathways

4 pathways

IDPathway
R-HSA-209822Glycoprotein hormones
R-HSA-209952Peptide hormone biosynthesis
R-HSA-2980736Peptide hormone metabolism
R-HSA-392499Metabolism of proteins

MSigDB gene sets: 96 (showing top): MODULE_52, MODULE_45, GOMF_GROWTH_FACTOR_ACTIVITY, AAAYRNCTG_UNKNOWN, MODULE_379, KOYAMA_SEMA3B_TARGETS_UP, HNF4_01, PPAR_DR1_Q2, MODULE_88, GOMF_CYTOKINE_ACTIVITY, VANTVEER_BREAST_CANCER_ESR1_DN, MODULE_242, GOMF_SIGNALING_RECEPTOR_BINDING, MODULE_18, RASHI_RESPONSE_TO_IONIZING_RADIATION_5

GO Biological Process (1): cell surface receptor protein serine/threonine kinase signaling pathway (GO:0007178)

GO Molecular Function (4): cytokine activity (GO:0005125), transforming growth factor beta receptor binding (GO:0005160), hormone activity (GO:0005179), growth factor activity (GO:0008083)

GO Cellular Component (2): extracellular region (GO:0005576), obsolete extracellular space (GO:0005615)

Reactome top-level categories

Rollup of top-3 pathways:

CategoryPathways
Peptide hormone biosynthesis1
Peptide hormone metabolism1
Metabolism of proteins1

GO top-level categories

Rollup of top GO terms by namespace:

CategoryTerms
receptor ligand activity3
enzyme-linked receptor protein signaling pathway1
cytokine receptor binding1
cellular anatomical structure1

Protein interactions and networks

STRING

680 interactions, top by confidence (×1000):

Protein AProtein BPartner UniProtScore
INHBCR3HDM2Q9Y2K5581
INHBCSLC17A1Q14916554
INHBCSLC16A9Q7RTY1545
INHBCSLC22A11Q9NSA0536
INHBCRREB1Q92766494
INHBCSLC2A9Q9NRM0492
INHBCFSTP19883475
INHBCPDZK1Q5T2W1454
INHBCINHAP05111444
INHBCACVR1BP36896403
INHBCAMHR2Q16671401
INHBCBMPR1BP78366399
INHBCVLDLRP98155399
INHBCSLC22A12Q96S37396
INHBCA1CFQ9NQ94395

IntAct

0 interactions, top by confidence:

ESM2 similar proteins: A5PJ93, E9PY61, H2N4I1, O00391, O08717, P01180, P01183, P08833, P21743, P24591, P43031, P47876, P51693, P55103, P58166, Q03157, Q15904, Q28686, Q561R0, Q58CS8, Q5Q0T9, Q5RJL6, Q6AZ60, Q6IUU3, Q6PRD1, Q6Q484, Q6S5C2, Q75ZP3, Q80WF4, Q80YF6, Q864V4, Q8BND5, Q8C1Q4, Q8CAL5, Q8CEF9, Q8CG70, Q8CJ26, Q8IVL6, Q8JGM4, Q8K5A9

Diamond homologs: A1C2U3, A1C2U6, A1C2U7, A1C2V0, A1C2V5, A8E7N9, G5EEL5, O08689, O14793, O18828, O18830, O18831, O18836, O35312, O42220, O42221, O42222, O46576, O61643, O95390, O95393, P09534, P12644, P12645, P17491, P18075, P20722, P20863, P22003, P22004, P22444, P23359, P27091, P27539, P35621, P43026, P43027, P43028, P43029, P48970

SIGNOR signaling

0 interactions.

Disease & clinical

Clinical variants and AI predictions

ClinVar

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

ClassificationCount (floor)
Pathogenic0
Likely pathogenic0
Uncertain significance42
Likely benign3
Benign1

Top pathogenic / likely-pathogenic (0)

SpliceAI

125 predictions. Top by Δscore:

VariantEffectΔscore
12:57435170:A:Tdonor_gain1.0000
12:57435169:G:GTdonor_gain0.9900
12:57435195:GACAG:Gdonor_gain0.9900
12:57435200:G:GCdonor_loss0.9900
12:57435201:T:Adonor_loss0.9900
12:57435200:G:GGdonor_gain0.9400
12:57449268:T:Gacceptor_loss0.9400
12:57449271:CCACA:Cacceptor_loss0.9400
12:57449272:CACA:Cacceptor_loss0.9400
12:57449273:ACAG:Aacceptor_loss0.9400
12:57449274:C:Gacceptor_loss0.9400
12:57449275:A:AGacceptor_gain0.9400
12:57449275:A:ATacceptor_loss0.9400
12:57449276:G:Cacceptor_loss0.9400
12:57449276:G:GGacceptor_gain0.9400
12:57449267:AT:Aacceptor_loss0.9300
12:57449270:TCCA:Tacceptor_loss0.9300
12:57435163:G:Tdonor_gain0.9100
12:57449269:GTCC:Gacceptor_loss0.8900
12:57449276:GGC:Gacceptor_gain0.8500
12:57449261:CTTCT:Cacceptor_loss0.8200
12:57449262:TTCTT:Tacceptor_loss0.8200
12:57435545:TGG:Tdonor_gain0.8100
12:57435546:GGG:Gdonor_gain0.8100
12:57449276:GGCCT:Gacceptor_gain0.7700
12:57449264:CTTAT:Cacceptor_loss0.7500
12:57438780:A:Gacceptor_gain0.7200
12:57449260:GCTTC:Gacceptor_loss0.7200
12:57449252:T:Gacceptor_loss0.7100
12:57448786:A:Tdonor_gain0.7000

AlphaMissense

2281 scored. Top likely-pathogenic:

VariantProtein changeam_pathogenicity
12:57449755:G:CW264C0.996
12:57449755:G:TW264C0.996
12:57449746:G:CW261C0.994
12:57449746:G:TW261C0.994
12:57449730:T:GF256C0.993
12:57449744:T:AW261R0.991
12:57449744:T:CW261R0.991
12:57449753:T:AW264R0.990
12:57449753:T:CW264R0.990
12:57449789:T:AC276S0.990
12:57449790:G:CC276S0.990
12:57449729:T:CF256L0.989
12:57449731:C:AF256L0.989
12:57449731:C:GF256L0.989
12:57449790:G:AC276Y0.988
12:57449791:C:GC276W0.988
12:57449757:T:CI265T0.987
12:57449801:T:AC280S0.986
12:57449802:G:CC280S0.986
12:57449730:T:CF256S0.985
12:57449757:T:GI265S0.981
12:57449790:G:TC276F0.980
12:57449784:A:TN274I0.978
12:57449789:T:CC276R0.978
12:57449943:T:CL327P0.978
12:57450009:G:AC349Y0.978
12:57449801:T:CC280R0.977
12:57450014:T:AC351S0.977
12:57450015:G:CC351S0.977
12:57449912:T:AC317S0.975

dbSNP variants (sampled 300 via entrez): RS1000015848 (12:57442281 C>T), RS1000044471 (12:57434450 C>T), RS1000089016 (12:57442628 A>G), RS1000123473 (12:57435066 C>T), RS1000189606 (12:57433545 G>A), RS1000878316 (12:57448928 G>C), RS1001325741 (12:57441640 A>G), RS1001328649 (12:57449303 C>G,T), RS1001406081 (12:57436129 G>A,C), RS1001474783 (12:57449747 C>G,T), RS1001557370 (12:57433955 C>T), RS1002050629 (12:57433790 C>T), RS1002223302 (12:57443151 C>A,G), RS1002289223 (12:57435680 A>G,T), RS1002481400 (12:57450183 C>A,T)

Disease associations

OMIM: gene MIM:601233 | disease phenotypes:

GenCC curated gene-disease

Mondo (0):

Orphanet (0):

HPO phenotypes

0 total (0 of 0 shown, HPO-id order):

GWAS associations

32 associations (top):

StudyTraitp-value
GCST000818_9Urate levels2.000000e-11
GCST001791_11Urate levels2.000000e-25
GCST002829_23Urate levels in overweight individuals2.000000e-07
GCST002829_35Urate levels in overweight individuals4.000000e-08
GCST003372_38Glomerular filtration rate (creatinine)2.000000e-09
GCST006585_2703Blood protein levels5.000000e-06
GCST007576_241Chronotype2.000000e-09
GCST007733_34Serum uric acid levels4.000000e-24
GCST007920_2Chronic kidney disease2.000000e-16
GCST008070_35HDL cholesterol levels3.000000e-09
GCST008070_84HDL cholesterol levels2.000000e-09
GCST008074_119Triglyceride levels x alcohol consumption (regular vs non-regular drinkers) interaction (2df)5.000000e-12
GCST008074_145Triglyceride levels x alcohol consumption (regular vs non-regular drinkers) interaction (2df)5.000000e-12
GCST008075_104HDL cholesterol levels x alcohol consumption (regular vs non-regular drinkers) interaction (2df)7.000000e-19
GCST008075_34HDL cholesterol levels x alcohol consumption (regular vs non-regular drinkers) interaction (2df)8.000000e-19
GCST008083_162Triglyceride levels x alcohol consumption (drinkers vs non-drinkers) interaction (2df)5.000000e-13
GCST008083_95Triglyceride levels x alcohol consumption (drinkers vs non-drinkers) interaction (2df)2.000000e-13
GCST008084_227HDL cholesterol levels x alcohol consumption (drinkers vs non-drinkers) interaction (2df)1.000000e-20
GCST008084_45HDL cholesterol levels x alcohol consumption (drinkers vs non-drinkers) interaction (2df)1.000000e-20
GCST008085_142HDL cholesterol levels in current drinkers2.000000e-12
GCST008085_23HDL cholesterol levels in current drinkers1.000000e-12
GCST008745_2Estimated glomerular filtration rate in non-diabetics4.000000e-13
GCST008916_2Asthma2.000000e-08
GCST008972_150Urate levels7.000000e-65
GCST010083_337Hemoglobin levels4.000000e-14
GCST010241_124Apolipoprotein A1 levels2.000000e-33
GCST010242_461HDL cholesterol levels6.000000e-43
GCST010637_19Urate levels4.000000e-22
GCST011334_9Body mass index and triglycerides (pairwise)1.000000e-12
GCST011336_9Body mass index and HDL-C (pairwise)2.000000e-13

EFO canonical traits (10, from GWAS)

EFO IDTrait name
EFO:0004531urate measurement
EFO:0008328chronotype measurement
EFO:0004761uric acid measurement
EFO:0004612high density lipoprotein cholesterol measurement
EFO:0004530triglyceride measurement
EFO:0004329alcohol drinking
EFO:0004509hemoglobin measurement
EFO:0004614apolipoprotein A 1 measurement
EFO:0004340body mass index
EFO:0004736aspartate aminotransferase measurement

Drugs & pharmacology

Drug and pharmacology data

Is drug target: no

PharmGKB: 1 entry (VIP=true, CPIC=false)

CTD chemical–gene interactions

23 total (human), top 23 by PubMed support.

ChemicalActions (top 5)PubMed papers
bisphenol Adecreases expression, affects expression, affects cotreatment, increases methylation3
Benzo(a)pyrenedecreases expression, increases methylation3
Cyclosporinedecreases expression2
fulvic acidincreases expression, affects cotreatment, decreases reaction1
methyleugenoldecreases expression1
S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)cysteineincreases expression1
CGP 52608affects binding, increases reaction1
perfluoro-n-nonanoic aciddecreases expression1
apatinibaffects cotreatment, increases expression1
Calcimycindecreases reaction, increases expression, affects cotreatment1
Arsenic Trioxideaffects cotreatment, increases expression1
Fulvestrantaffects cotreatment, increases methylation1
Arsenicaffects expression1
Dexamethasoneaffects cotreatment, decreases expression1
Indomethacinaffects cotreatment, decreases expression1
Methylcholanthreneaffects binding, increases reaction1
Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetateaffects cotreatment, decreases reaction, increases expression1
Tretinoindecreases expression1
Urethanedecreases expression1
Zincdecreases expression1
1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthineaffects cotreatment, decreases expression1
Okadaic Aciddecreases expression1
Copper Sulfatedecreases expression1

Clinical trials (associated diseases)

0 trials via MONDO — disease-level, not drug-specific.

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