Protein / target

Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2

Encoded byMECP2P51608Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot

UniProt: P51608 Ensembl: ENSG00000169057 HGNC: HGNC:6990 NCBI Gene: 4204

Degrader-tractable

Druggability

Database Ubiquitination

Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Double-stranded methylated DNA binding

Strongest disease association

Rett Syndrome

Via encoding gene MECP2 · Genetic evidence · score 0.95

Research activity

Emerging research

3 papers · latest 2025

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function overview

Chromosomal protein that binds to methylated DNA.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Chromosomal protein that binds to methylated DNA. It can bind specifically to a single methyl-CpG pair. It is not influenced by sequences flanking the methyl-CpGs. Mediates transcriptional repression through interaction with histone deacetylase and the corepressor SIN3A. Binds both 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC)-containing DNA, with a preference for 5-methylcytosine (5mC)

Subcellular location

Nucleus

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (33)

Domains & features

MBD

Gene Ontology

Ccentrosome
Ccytosol
Cextracellular space
Cheterochromatin
Cnucleoplasm
Cnucleus
Fchromatin binding
FDNA binding
Fdouble-stranded methylated DNA binding
Fhistone reader activity
Fmethyl-CpG binding
Fmolecular adaptor activity

486 aa · 52 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

Cell migrationGOTranscriptional regulationUniProt · GO

View supporting evidence

Cell migration

·negative regulation of blood vessel endothelial cell migration

Transcriptional regulation

·Chromosomal protein that binds to methylated DNA. It can bind specifically to a single m…
·transcription corepressor activity
·DNA-templated transcription
·negative regulation of DNA-templated transcription

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.

Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene MECP2

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene MECP2that encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.

Rett Syndrome

0.98Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.88

Genetic Diseases, Inborn

0.91Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.56

Angelman Syndrome

0.89Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.64

atypical Rett syndrome

0.83Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.73

View evidence synthesis (4)

Rett SyndromeWell supported

0.98

agreement 0.87–1.00

Genetic57%Pathway21%Animal model13%Literature9%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.88 · 4 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

Genetic Diseases, InbornWell supported

0.91

agreement 0.77–1.00

Genetic99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.56 · 2 independent evidence families

Angelman SyndromeWell supported

0.89

agreement 0.77–1.00

Genetic76%Animal model23%Literature2%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.64 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

atypical Rett syndromeWell supported

0.83

agreement 0.71–0.95

Genetic66%Animal model23%Literature12%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.73 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations

Rett Syndrome0.88

atypical Rett syndrome0.73

Angelman Syndrome0.64

Genetic Diseases, Inborn0.56

Tractability

Protein degraders — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (database ubiquitination and half-life data) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (3)

PR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Half-life DataPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.