MUC15

Summary

MUC15 (mucin 15, cell surface associated, HGNC:14956) is a protein-coding gene on chromosome 11p14.2, encoding Mucin-15 (Q8N387). May play a role in the cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix.

Predicted to be located in Golgi lumen and plasma membrane.

Source: NCBI Gene 143662 — RefSeq curated summary.

At a glance

• GWAS associations: 4
• Clinical variants (ClinVar): 3 total
• MANE Select transcript: NM_001135091

Identifiers

Gene identifiers

Field	Value
HGNC ID	HGNC:14956
Approved symbol	MUC15
Name	mucin 15, cell surface associated
Location	11p14.2
Locus type	gene with protein product
Status	Approved
Ensembl gene	ENSG00000169550
Ensembl biotype	protein_coding
OMIM	608566
Entrez	143662

Gene structure

Transcript identifiers

Ensembl transcripts: 6 — 6 protein_coding

ENST00000281268, ENST00000436318, ENST00000455601, ENST00000527569, ENST00000529533, ENST00000648230

RefSeq mRNA: 3 — MANE Select: NM_001135091 NM_001135091, NM_001135092, NM_145650

CCDS: CCDS44556, CCDS44557, CCDS7859

Canonical transcript exons

ENST00000529533 — 5 exons

Exon	Start	End
ENSE00001158764	26572041	26572263
ENSE00001173179	26563116	26563265
ENSE00001332910	26559032	26561225
ENSE00002227708	26567052	26567139
ENSE00003626244	26565165	26565896

Expression profiles

Bgee: expression breadth ubiquitous, 128 present calls, max score 99.96.

FANTOM5 (CAGE): breadth tissue_specific, TPM avg 2.8147 / max 1590.3450, expressed in 156 samples.

FANTOM5 promoters (8 alternative TSS)

Promoter ID	TPM avg	Samples expressed
119031	1.1505	78
119028	0.6514	84
119030	0.5176	64
119029	0.2675	66
119027	0.1818	51
119026	0.0211	6
119025	0.0184	6
119024	0.0065	2

Top tissues by expression

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

Tissue	Anatomy ID	Expression score	Quality
corpus epididymis	UBERON:0004359	99.96	gold quality
bronchial epithelial cell	CL:0002328	98.54	gold quality
cauda epididymis	UBERON:0004360	98.00	gold quality
upper arm skin	UBERON:0004263	97.67	gold quality
bronchus	UBERON:0002185	97.36	gold quality
palpebral conjunctiva	UBERON:0001812	97.09	gold quality
upper leg skin	UBERON:0004262	96.84	gold quality
parotid gland	UBERON:0001831	95.15	gold quality
esophagus squamous epithelium	UBERON:0006920	95.02	gold quality
gingiva	UBERON:0001828	94.71	gold quality
epididymis	UBERON:0001301	94.62	gold quality
gingival epithelium	UBERON:0001949	94.58	gold quality
mammalian vulva	UBERON:0000997	93.95	gold quality
epithelium of nasopharynx	UBERON:0001951	93.50	gold quality
penis	UBERON:0000989	92.67	gold quality
placenta	UBERON:0001987	91.44	gold quality
mucosa of paranasal sinus	UBERON:0005030	91.32	gold quality
renal medulla	UBERON:0000362	91.09	gold quality
thyroid gland	UBERON:0002046	90.96	gold quality
oral cavity	UBERON:0000167	90.93	gold quality
right lobe of thyroid gland	UBERON:0001119	90.68	gold quality
olfactory segment of nasal mucosa	UBERON:0005386	90.45	gold quality
left lobe of thyroid gland	UBERON:0001120	90.29	gold quality
nasal cavity epithelium	UBERON:0005384	89.92	silver quality
skin of hip	UBERON:0001554	88.38	gold quality
kidney epithelium	UBERON:0004819	88.23	silver quality
saliva-secreting gland	UBERON:0001044	87.53	gold quality
nasal cavity mucosa	UBERON:0001826	87.03	gold quality
mouth mucosa	UBERON:0003729	86.65	gold quality
caput epididymis	UBERON:0004358	85.98	gold quality

Single-cell (SCXA)

Detected in 5 experiment(s), a significant marker in 4.

Experiment	Marker?	Max mean expression
E-HCAD-23	yes	1112.72
E-MTAB-10855	yes	447.43
E-MTAB-6701	yes	38.87
E-ANND-3	yes	7.53
E-HCAD-38	no	3761.67

Regulation

Is transcription factor: no

miRNA regulators (miRDB)

85 targeting MUC15, top 30 by miRDB confidence (max_score; target_count = how many genes the miRNA targets in total — lower means more specific):

miRNA	Max score	Avg score	miRNA target_count
HSA-MIR-8485	100.00	77.57	4731
HSA-MIR-3163	100.00	77.23	8605
HSA-MIR-4692	100.00	67.32	2066
HSA-MIR-4795-3P	100.00	74.62	4024
HSA-MIR-5692B	100.00	71.32	2622
HSA-MIR-5692C	100.00	71.32	2622
HSA-MIR-6758-5P	100.00	66.21	1470
HSA-MIR-6856-5P	100.00	65.47	1298
HSA-MIR-656-3P	100.00	72.15	2788
HSA-MIR-548C-3P	99.99	74.01	7587
HSA-MIR-4514	99.99	67.10	1870
HSA-MIR-485-3P	99.98	70.68	1585
HSA-MIR-539-3P	99.98	70.74	1616
HSA-MIR-5696	99.98	72.36	4487
HSA-MIR-4482-3P	99.98	72.50	3147
HSA-MIR-551B-5P	99.96	71.28	3493
HSA-MIR-3143	99.93	71.96	3104
HSA-MIR-552-5P	99.93	68.56	1583
HSA-MIR-4760-3P	99.93	70.50	2385
HSA-MIR-6508-5P	99.92	70.67	2465
HSA-MIR-7-1-3P	99.91	71.53	4384
HSA-MIR-7-2-3P	99.91	71.40	4394
HSA-MIR-6783-3P	99.89	67.92	2059
HSA-MIR-1343-3P	99.89	66.78	1815
HSA-MIR-8067	99.86	69.59	2260
HSA-MIR-548AR-3P	99.85	71.26	3889
HSA-MIR-548F-3P	99.82	70.59	3540
HSA-MIR-4645-3P	99.76	69.33	993
HSA-MIR-548A-3P	99.76	70.58	3524
HSA-MIR-4517	99.76	69.19	1867

Literature-anchored findings (GeneRIF, showing 15)

• MUC15 was expressed most highly in human placenta. MUC15 mRNA & protein increased with gestational age (P < 0.05, 1st versus 3rd trimester). Differential expression of MUC15 in human placentas may play critical role in regulation of trophoblast invasion. (PMID:17720698)
• Reflux laryngitis is associated with down-regulation of mucin gene expression. (PMID:18834073)
• Overexpression of MUC15 activates extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and promotes the oncogenic potential of colon cancer cells. (PMID:19520792)
• MUC4 and MUC15 were overexpressed in papillary thyroid carcinoma, and high MUC15 expression was associated with high malignant potential. (PMID:21615302)
• MUC15 is a strong candidate for eczema. (PMID:22657408)
• MUC15 inhibits dimerization of EGFR and PI3K-AKT signaling and is associated with aggressive hepatocellular carcinomas in patients. (PMID:23933603)
• Multivariate analysis suggested that MUC15 overexpression was an independent factor for prognosis (hazard risk: 3.216; P=0.009). It was concluded that MUC15 is overexpressed in glioma tissues. (PMID:24710941)
• Frameshift mutations of MUC15 gene is associated with gastric and colorectal cancers. (PMID:25573589)
• MUC15 promotes growth and invasion of glioma cells by activating Raf/MEK/ERK pathway. (PMID:32031702)
• MUC15 inhibits cancer metastasis via PI3K/AKT signaling in renal cell carcinoma. (PMID:32382053)
• Targeting MUC15 Protein in Cancer: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Perspectives. (PMID:32479243)
• High Expression of MUC15 Is Correlated with Poor Prognosis of Pancreatic Cancer and Promotes Migration, Invasion, and Chemo-Resistance In Vitro. (PMID:33051432)
• MUC15 loss facilitates epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stemness for prostate cancer metastasis through GSK3beta/beta-catenin signaling. (PMID:33894313)
• Downregulation of MUC15 by miR-183-5p.1 promotes liver tumor-initiating cells properties and tumorigenesis via regulating c-MET/PI3K/AKT/SOX2 axis. (PMID:35236826)
• Cell surface associated protein mucin 15 (MUC15) is elevated in preeclampsia. (PMID:37531748)

Cross-species orthologs

8 orthologs

Organism	Symbol	Gene ID
danio_rerio	vsig8b	ENSDARG00000013685
danio_rerio	jam2a	ENSDARG00000058996
danio_rerio	jam2b	ENSDARG00000079071
danio_rerio	si:dkey-22i16.9	ENSDARG00000095949
danio_rerio		ENSDARG00000116487
danio_rerio		ENSDARG00000116937
mus_musculus	Muc15	ENSMUSG00000050808
rattus_norvegicus	Muc15	ENSRNOG00000004703

Paralogs (14): VSIG2 (ENSG00000019102), VSIG1 (ENSG00000101842), VSIR (ENSG00000107738), GPA33 (ENSG00000143167), IGSF11 (ENSG00000144847), ESAM (ENSG00000149564), CXADR (ENSG00000154639), JAM2 (ENSG00000154721), F11R (ENSG00000158769), MXRA8 (ENSG00000162576), JAM3 (ENSG00000166086), CLMP (ENSG00000166250), VSTM2B (ENSG00000187135), VSIG8 (ENSG00000243284)

Protein

Protein identifiers

Mucin-15 — Q8N387 (reviewed: Q8N387)

All UniProt accessions (4): A0A0A0MT67, A0A0A0MTD6, A0A3B3IU37, Q8N387

UniProt curated annotations — full annotation on UniProt →

Function. May play a role in the cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix.

Subcellular location. Cell membrane Secreted.

Tissue specificity. Expressed in spleen, thymus, prostate, testis, ovary, small intestine, colon, peripheral blood leukocyte, bone marrow, lymph node and lung.

Post-translational modifications. Highly glycosylated (N- and O-linked carbohydrates).

Isoforms (2)

UniProt ID	Names	Canonical?
Q8N387-1	1, MUC15	yes
Q8N387-2	2, MUC15/S

RefSeq proteins (3): NP_001128563, NP_001128564, NP_663625 (=MANE)

Domains & families (InterPro)

ID	Name	Type
IPR031371	Mucin-15	Family

Pfam: PF15672

UniProt features (22 total): glycosylation site 9, sequence variant 3, topological domain 2, region of interest 2, signal peptide 1, chain 1, splice variant 1, sequence conflict 1, transmembrane region 1, compositionally biased region 1

Structure

Experimental structures (PDB)

0 structures.

Predicted structure (AlphaFold)

Model	pLDDT	Fraction very-high
AF-Q8N387-F1	52.21	0.04

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 (9): 79, 90, 148, 155, 163, 218, 225, 30, 61

Function

Pathways and Gene Ontology

Reactome pathways

16 pathways

ID	Pathway
R-HSA-5083625	Defective GALNT3 causes HFTC
R-HSA-5083632	Defective C1GALT1C1 causes TNPS
R-HSA-5083636	Defective GALNT12 causes CRCS1
R-HSA-5621480	Dectin-2 family
R-HSA-913709	O-linked glycosylation of mucins
R-HSA-977068	Termination of O-glycan biosynthesis
R-HSA-1643685	Disease
R-HSA-168249	Innate Immune System
R-HSA-168256	Immune System
R-HSA-3781865	Diseases of glycosylation
R-HSA-3906995	Diseases associated with O-glycosylation of proteins
R-HSA-392499	Metabolism of proteins
R-HSA-5173105	O-linked glycosylation
R-HSA-5621481	C-type lectin receptors (CLRs)
R-HSA-5668914	Diseases of metabolism
R-HSA-597592	Post-translational protein modification

MSigDB gene sets: 75 (showing top): REACTOME_INNATE_IMMUNE_SYSTEM, NKX25_02, AP4_Q6, CAGCTG_AP4_Q5, NKX62_Q2, MCBRYAN_PUBERTAL_BREAST_3_4WK_UP, SCHAEFFER_PROSTATE_DEVELOPMENT_48HR_DN, MCBRYAN_PUBERTAL_BREAST_5_6WK_UP, TAATTA_CHX10_01, GOCC_GOLGI_LUMEN, PAX2_02, chr11p14, MCBRYAN_PUBERTAL_BREAST_4_5WK_UP, SENGUPTA_NASOPHARYNGEAL_CARCINOMA_WITH_LMP1_UP, LIN_SILENCED_BY_TUMOR_MICROENVIRONMENT

GO Biological Process (0):

GO Molecular Function (1): protein binding (GO:0005515)

GO Cellular Component (4): extracellular region (GO:0005576), Golgi lumen (GO:0005796), plasma membrane (GO:0005886), membrane (GO:0016020)

Reactome top-level categories

Rollup of top-11 pathways:

Category	Pathways
Diseases associated with O-glycosylation of proteins	3
C-type lectin receptors (CLRs)	1
O-linked glycosylation	1
O-linked glycosylation of mucins	1
Immune System	1
Diseases of metabolism	1
Diseases of glycosylation	1
Post-translational protein modification	1
Innate Immune System	1
Disease	1
Metabolism of proteins	1

GO top-level categories

Rollup of top GO terms by namespace:

Category	Terms
cellular anatomical structure	2
binding	1
Golgi apparatus	1
intracellular organelle lumen	1
membrane	1
cell periphery	1

Protein interactions and networks

STRING

546 interactions, top by confidence (×1000):

Protein A	Protein B	Partner UniProt	Score
MUC15	MUC1	P13931	937
MUC15	MUC12	Q9UKN1	905
MUC15	MUC13	Q9H3R2	886
MUC15	MUC17	Q685J3	870
MUC15	MUC3A	Q02505	852
MUC15	MUC4	Q99102	846
MUC15	MUC20	Q8N307	834
MUC15	MUC16	Q8WXI7	813
MUC15	MUC21	Q5SSG8	792
MUC15	MUC2	Q02817	781
MUC15	MUC7	Q8TAX7	774
MUC15	MUC19	Q7Z5P9	769
MUC15	MUC6	Q6W4X9	723
MUC15	MUC5B	Q9HC84	700
MUC15	MUC22	E2RYF6	696

IntAct

15 interactions, top by confidence:

A	B	Type	Score
CNR2	MUC15	psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)	0.560
CD3E	MUC15	psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)	0.560
MUC15	LAMP2	psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)	0.560
MUC15	SH3GLB1	psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)	0.560
MUC15	CDS1	psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)	0.530
MUC15	CORO1A	psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)	0.350
MUC15	CNR2	psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)	0.000
MUC15	CD3E	psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)	0.000

BioGRID (9): CDS1 (Affinity Capture-MS), FCRL4 (Affinity Capture-MS), FCRL4 (Affinity Capture-MS), CDS1 (Affinity Capture-MS), CNR2 (Two-hybrid), CD3E (Two-hybrid), CORO1A (Affinity Capture-MS), CDS1 (Affinity Capture-MS), FCRL4 (Affinity Capture-MS)

ESM2 similar proteins: A0A1B0GW64, A4FUY1, A4IFL2, A6QPH9, A8MVS5, O54693, P0C8R9, P16070, P19438, P20944, P26051, P26842, P49772, P50555, Q0VAQ4, Q13261, Q14CZ8, Q19T08, Q29435, Q2KIX5, Q3TZW0, Q3U2E2, Q4R3D6, Q4V9L6, Q5BJT4, Q5T1S8, Q60522, Q640R3, Q6A044, Q6GTX8, Q6P6J9, Q6P9G4, Q6UX15, Q7TPF1, Q7YR73, Q7Z692, Q8C6Z1, Q8MI01, Q8N387, Q8R0A6

Diamond homologs: Q8C6Z1, Q8MI01, Q8N387

SIGNOR signaling

0 interactions.

Disease & clinical

Clinical variants and AI predictions

ClinVar

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

Classification	Count (floor)
Pathogenic	0
Likely pathogenic	0
Uncertain significance	2
Likely benign	0
Benign	0

Top pathogenic / likely-pathogenic (0)

SpliceAI

672 predictions. Top by Δscore:

Variant	Effect	Δscore
11:26559714:CTCA:C	acceptor_loss	1.0000
11:26559716:CAGG:C	acceptor_loss	1.0000
11:26559717:A:AG	acceptor_gain	1.0000
11:26559718:G:GG	acceptor_gain	1.0000
11:26559718:G:GT	acceptor_loss	1.0000
11:26559776:TGGG:T	donor_gain	1.0000
11:26559776:TGGGG:T	donor_loss	1.0000
11:26559777:GGG:G	donor_gain	1.0000
11:26559777:GGGG:G	donor_gain	1.0000
11:26559778:GG:G	donor_gain	1.0000
11:26559778:GGG:G	donor_gain	1.0000
11:26559778:GGGT:G	donor_loss	1.0000
11:26559779:GG:G	donor_gain	1.0000
11:26559780:G:GG	donor_gain	1.0000
11:26559781:T:A	donor_loss	1.0000
11:26561226:C:CC	acceptor_gain	1.0000
11:26572039:A:AT	donor_loss	1.0000
11:26572040:C:CT	donor_loss	1.0000
11:26559713:A:AG	acceptor_gain	0.9900
11:26559714:C:G	acceptor_gain	0.9900
11:26559717:AGGT:A	acceptor_gain	0.9900
11:26559718:GGT:G	acceptor_gain	0.9900
11:26559718:GGTG:G	acceptor_gain	0.9900
11:26559775:ATGGG:A	donor_gain	0.9900
11:26565802:CGA:C	acceptor_gain	0.9900
11:26567050:A:AC	donor_gain	0.9900
11:26567051:C:CC	donor_gain	0.9900
11:26572039:A:AC	donor_gain	0.9900
11:26572040:C:CC	donor_gain	0.9900
11:26572040:CCTT:C	donor_gain	0.9900

AlphaMissense

0 scored. Top likely-pathogenic:

dbSNP variants (sampled 300 via entrez): RS1000110379 (11:26570764 G>A), RS1000115096 (11:26563383 G>A), RS1001055014 (11:26569064 A>G), RS1001067488 (11:26559022 C>A,T), RS1001119511 (11:26569013 G>A,T), RS1001167131 (11:26568746 T>C), RS1001275713 (11:26561508 A>T), RS1001562826 (11:26569355 T>A,C), RS1001796762 (11:26561746 A>G), RS1002121494 (11:26573735 C>G,T), RS1002124684 (11:26566685 G>T), RS1002847789 (11:26568438 A>G), RS1003053695 (11:26572223 G>A), RS1003087759 (11:26561765 A>G), RS1003511494 (11:26567288 A>G,T)

Disease associations

OMIM: gene MIM:608566 | disease phenotypes:

GenCC curated gene-disease

Mondo (0):

Orphanet (0):

HPO phenotypes

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

GWAS associations

4 associations (top):

Study	Trait	p-value
GCST000426_1	Obesity (extreme)	4.000000e-06
GCST004059_1	Exhaled nitric oxide levels	2.000000e-06
GCST004060_4	Exhaled nitric oxide output	2.000000e-07
GCST006992_2	Cerebrospinal fluid p-tau levels in Alzheimer’s disease dementia	5.000000e-07

EFO canonical traits (2, from GWAS)

EFO ID	Trait name
EFO:0005536	nitric oxide exhalation measurement
EFO:0004763	p-tau measurement

Drugs & pharmacology

Drug and pharmacology data

Is drug target: no

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

CTD chemical–gene interactions

29 total (human), top 29 by PubMed support.

Chemical	Actions (top 5)	PubMed papers
Valproic Acid	affects cotreatment, increases expression, decreases expression	6
Benzo(a)pyrene	decreases methylation, increases methylation, affects methylation, decreases expression	4
trichostatin A	affects cotreatment, increases expression	3
mercuric bromide	increases expression, affects cotreatment	2
belinostat	increases expression, affects cotreatment	2
Vorinostat	affects cotreatment, increases expression	2
Panobinostat	affects cotreatment, increases expression	2
Phenylmercuric Acetate	affects cotreatment, increases expression	2
Cyclosporine	decreases expression	2
p-Chloromercuribenzoic Acid	affects cotreatment, increases expression	2
bisphenol A	affects methylation	1
sodium arsenate	decreases expression, increases abundance	1
arsenite	affects methylation	1
zinc chromate	increases abundance, increases expression	1
avobenzone	decreases expression	1
chromium hexavalent ion	increases abundance, increases expression	1
CGP 52608	affects binding, increases reaction	1
4-(5-benzo(1,3)dioxol-5-yl-4-pyridin-2-yl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzamide	affects cotreatment, increases expression	1
dorsomorphin	affects cotreatment, increases expression	1
Air Pollutants	decreases expression, increases abundance	1
Arsenic	increases abundance, decreases expression	1
Diethylhexyl Phthalate	increases expression	1
Estradiol	affects cotreatment, decreases expression	1
Nickel	decreases expression	1
Quercetin	decreases expression	1
Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate	decreases expression	1
Tobacco Smoke Pollution	decreases expression	1
Copper Sulfate	decreases expression	1
Particulate Matter	decreases expression, increases abundance	1

Clinical trials (associated diseases)

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