APOC2 Gene

HGNC Family	Apolipoproteins (APO)
Name	apolipoprotein C-II
Description	This gene encodes a lipid-binding protein belonging to the apolipoprotein gene family. The protein is secreted in plasma where it is a component of very low density lipoprotein. This protein activates the enzyme lipoprotein lipase, which hydrolyzes triglycerides and thus provides free fatty acids for cells. Mutations in this gene cause hyperlipoproteinemia type IB, characterized by hypertriglyceridemia, xanthomas, and increased risk of pancreatitis and early atherosclerosis. This gene is present in a cluster with other related apolipoprotein genes on chromosome 19. Naturally occurring read-through transcription exists between this gene and the neighboring upstream apolipoprotein C-IV (APOC4) gene. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2011]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Apolipoprotein C‐II (APOC2) plays a central role in plasma lipid homeostasis by serving as an essential activator of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), the enzyme responsible for hydrolyzing triglyceride‐rich lipoproteins. In doing so, APOC2 promotes the efficient clearance of plasma triglycerides. Rare loss‐of‐function mutations in the APOC2 gene have been identified in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia and chylomicronemia, underscoring its indispensable function in lipid metabolism."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_fs", "start_ref": "1", "end_ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": ""}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n \n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Moreover, APOC2 expression is subject to regulation by nuclear receptor pathways. For instance, activation of liver X receptor (LXR) together with retinoid X receptor (RXR) in macrophages leads to a coordinated up‐regulation of a cluster of apolipoprotein genes—including APOC2—which may facilitate lipid removal from foam cells in atherosclerotic lesions."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Additionally, metabolic regulators such as the transcription factor CREB‐H have been shown to induce the expression of LPL coactivators including APOC2, thereby contributing to normal triglyceride clearance."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n \n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Interestingly, biochemical studies have observed that, in the absence of lipid, human APOC2 can slowly form amyloid fibers. Although the physiological relevance of this amyloidogenic behavior is not fully established, it may hint at additional, context‐dependent properties of APOC2."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "6"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n \n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n In summary, the collective data indicate that APOC2 is a multifunctional protein whose primary role is to activate LPL and thereby promote triglyceride hydrolysis and clearance. Its proper expression is critical for maintaining healthy lipid levels, and its dysregulation through genetic mutations or altered transcriptional control can predispose individuals to severe hypertriglyceridemia, with potential downstream effects on atherogenesis."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "6"}, {"type": "fg_f", "ref": "4"}, {"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}, {"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}, {"type": "fg_f", "ref": "2"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "R P Surendran, M E Visser, S Heemelaar, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mutations in LPL, APOC2, APOA5, GPIHBP1 and LMF1 in patients with severe hypertriglyceridaemia."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Intern Med (2012)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1111/j.1365-2796.2012.02516.x"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2012.02516.x"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "22239554"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22239554"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Claudio Priore Oliva, Livia Pisciotta, Giovanni Li Volti, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Inherited apolipoprotein A-V deficiency in severe hypertriglyceridemia."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol (2005)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1161/01.ATV.0000153087.36428.dd"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1161/01.ATV.0000153087.36428.dd"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "15591215"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15591215"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Jian Wang, Henian Cao, Matthew R Ban, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Resequencing genomic DNA of patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia (MIM 144650)."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol (2007)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1161/ATVBAHA.107.150680"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.107.150680"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "17717288"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17717288"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Puiying A Mak, Bryan A Laffitte, Catherine Desrumaux, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Regulated expression of the apolipoprotein E/C-I/C-IV/C-II gene cluster in murine and human macrophages. A critical role for nuclear liver X receptors alpha and beta."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2002)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M202993200"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M202993200"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "12032151"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12032151"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Jung Hoon Lee, Petros Giannikopoulos, Stephen A Duncan, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "The transcription factor cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein H regulates triglyceride metabolism."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nat Med (2011)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/nm.2347"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2347"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "21666694"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21666694"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Danny M Hatters, Allen P Minton, Geoffrey J Howlett "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Macromolecular crowding accelerates amyloid formation by human apolipoprotein C-II."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2002)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M110429200"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M110429200"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "11751863"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11751863"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	APO-CII, APOC-II
Proteins	APOC2_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	344
API
Download Associations
Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

APOC2 has 6,053 functional associations with biological entities spanning 9 categories (molecular profile, organism, chemical, disease, phenotype or trait, functional term, phrase or reference, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA, sequence feature) extracted from 114 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for APOC2 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

APOC2 Gene

Functional Associations

Please acknowledge the Harmonizome in your publications by citing the following reference(s):

	Dataset	Summary
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles	tissue samples with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray	tissue samples with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq	tissue samples with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other cell lines from the BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of APOC2 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures	small molecule perturbations changing expression of APOC2 gene from the Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of APOC2 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with APOC2 gene from the CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of APOC2 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of APOC2 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022	transcription factors binding the promoter of APOC2 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	ClinVar Gene-Phenotype Associations 2025	phenotypes associated with APOC2 gene from the curated ClinVar Gene-Phenotype Associations 2025 dataset.
	CM4AI KOLF21J CRISPRi Gene Perturbation Atlas	gene perturbations changing expression of APOC2 gene from the CM4AI KOLF21J CRISPRi Gene Perturbation Atlas dataset.
	CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of APOC2 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing APOC2 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing APOC2 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with APOC2 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components co-occuring with APOC2 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of APOC2 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with APOC2 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with APOC2 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with APOC2 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by APOC2 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases involving APOC2 gene from the DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases involving APOC2 gene from the DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases associated with APOC2 gene in GWAS datasets from the DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases co-occuring with APOC2 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases co-occuring with APOC2 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with APOC2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with APOC2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Phenoptype Associations dataset.
	ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles	histone modification site profiles with high histone modification abundance at APOC2 gene from the ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of APOC2 gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of APOC2 gene in ChIP-seq datasets from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells	PubMedIDs of publications reporting gene signatures containing APOC2 from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GAD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with APOC2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with APOC2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations dataset.