Protein / target

Occludin

Encoded byOCLNQ16625Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot

UniProt: Q16625 Ensembl: ENSG00000197822 HGNC: HGNC:8104 NCBI Gene: 100506658

Antibody-tractable

Druggability

UniProt loc high conf

Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Protein domain specific binding

Strongest disease association

Hypertension

Via encoding gene OCLN · Genetic evidence · score 0.67

Research activity

Emerging research

2 papers · latest 2021

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

May play a role in the formation and regulation of the tight junction (TJ) paracellular permeability barrier.

View complete UniProt function annotation

May play a role in the formation and regulation of the tight junction (TJ) paracellular permeability barrier. It is able to induce adhesion when expressed in cells lacking tight junctions

Subcellular location

Cell membraneCell junction, tight junction

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (29)

Domains & features

MARVELOCEL

Gene Ontology

Capical plasma membrane
Capicolateral plasma membrane
Cbicellular tight junction
Ccell junction
Ccell leading edge
Ccell-cell junction
Ccytoplasmic vesicle
Cendocytic vesicle
Clysosomal membrane
Cplasma membrane
Cprotein-containing complex
Ctight junction

522 aa · 59 kDa · 7 isoforms

Biological roles

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

Cell migrationGOCell adhesionUniProt · GOTranscriptional regulationGO

View supporting evidence

Cell migration

·epithelial cell migration

Cell adhesion

·May play a role in the formation and regulation of the tight junction (TJ) paracellular…
·Cell junction, tight junction
·bicellular tight junction
·cell junction

Transcriptional regulation

·negative regulation of gene expression
·positive regulation of gene expression

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 OCLN

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene OCLNthat 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.

Hypertension

0.68Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.41

Nephrolithiasis

0.35Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.21

Neurodegenerative Diseases

0.22Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.34 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

View evidence synthesis (3)

HypertensionModerately supported

0.68

agreement 0.54–0.82

Genetic98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.41 · 2 independent evidence families

NephrolithiasisLimited support

0.35

agreement 0.23–0.47

Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.21 · 1 independent evidence family

Neurodegenerative DiseasesPreliminary

0.22

agreement 0.05–0.40

Pathway99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.34 · 2 independent evidence families · no direct causal or clinical evidence

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

Hypertension0.41

Neurodegenerative Diseases0.34

Nephrolithiasis0.21

Tractability

Antibodies — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (uniprot loc high conf and go cc high conf) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Protein degraders — Emerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (6)

AB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · Human Protein Atlas locPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Half-life Data

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Research activity

2 papers · to 2021

Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.

Most cited

Changes in gut microbiota control inflammation in obese mice through a mechanism involving GLP-2-driven improvement of gut permeability.1,794 cites

Cani PD · Gut · 2009

IL-1β and the Intestinal Epithelial Tight Junction Barrier.277 cites

Kaminsky LW · Frontiers in immunology · 2021

Recent

IL-1β and the Intestinal Epithelial Tight Junction Barrier.

Kaminsky LW · Frontiers in immunology · 2021

Changes in gut microbiota control inflammation in obese mice through a mechanism involving GLP-2-driven improvement of gut permeability.

Cani PD · Gut · 2009

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.