BAK1 Gene

Name	BCL2-antagonist/killer 1
Description	The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the BCL2 protein family. BCL2 family members form oligomers or heterodimers and act as anti- or pro-apoptotic regulators that are involved in a wide variety of cellular activities. This protein localizes to mitochondria, and functions to induce apoptosis. It interacts with and accelerates the opening of the mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel, which leads to a loss in membrane potential and the release of cytochrome c. This protein also interacts with the tumor suppressor P53 after exposure to cell stress. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n BAK1 is a pivotal pro‐apoptotic effector of the intrinsic mitochondrial death pathway whose activity is tightly regulated by microRNAs in multiple biological contexts. In prostate cancer cells, for example, up‐regulation of miR‑125b reduces BAK1 expression, thereby promoting androgen‐independent growth and chemotherapy resistance."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, direct targeting of BAK1 by miR‑125a lowers apoptotic rates, facilitating an expansion of the stem cell pool."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Moreover, studies of apoptotic activation have demonstrated that BAK1 is preferentially triggered by the BH3‐only protein BID, highlighting mechanistic distinctions among BCL2 family members."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In both myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury and cervical cancer, overexpression of miR‑125b suppresses BAK1 (along with p53‐mediated apoptotic signaling), thereby inhibiting cell death and contributing to disease progression."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Finally, within the context of the broader p53 network, miR‑125b has been shown to directly repress BAK1—among other apoptotic targets—to fine‐tune cellular outcomes."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "7"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Collectively, these findings underscore BAK1’s central role as a pro‐apoptotic mediator whose regulation by microRNA circuits is critical for modulating cell death, influencing oncogenic progression, chemoresistance, and tissue homeostasis.\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Xu-Bao Shi, Lingru Xue, Joy Yang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "An androgen-regulated miRNA suppresses Bak1 expression and induces androgen-independent growth of prostate cancer cells."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2007)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1073/pnas.0706641104"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0706641104"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "18056640"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18056640"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Ming Zhou, Zixing Liu, Yuhua Zhao, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "MicroRNA-125b confers the resistance of breast cancer cells to paclitaxel through suppression of pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 antagonist killer 1 (Bak1) expression."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2010)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M109.083337"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M109.083337"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "20460378"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20460378"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Shangqin Guo, Jun Lu, Rita Schlanger, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "MicroRNA miR-125a controls hematopoietic stem cell number."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2010)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1073/pnas.0913574107"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0913574107"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "20616003"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20616003"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Kristopher A Sarosiek, Xiaoke Chi, John A Bachman, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "BID preferentially activates BAK while BIM preferentially activates BAX, affecting chemotherapy response."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Cell (2013)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.molcel.2013.08.048"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2013.08.048"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24074954"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24074954"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Xiaohui Wang, Tuanzhu Ha, Jianghuan Zou, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "MicroRNA-125b protects against myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury via targeting p53-mediated apoptotic signalling and TRAF6."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cardiovasc Res (2014)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1093/cvr/cvu044"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvu044"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24576954"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24576954"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Y-D Wang, N Cai, X-L Wu, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "OCT4 promotes tumorigenesis and inhibits apoptosis of cervical cancer cells by miR-125b/BAK1 pathway."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cell Death Dis (2013)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/cddis.2013.272"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/cddis.2013.272"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "23928699"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23928699"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Minh T N Le, Ng Shyh-Chang, Swea Ling Khaw, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Conserved regulation of p53 network dosage by microRNA-125b occurs through evolving miRNA-target gene pairs."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "PLoS Genet (2011)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1371/journal.pgen.1002242"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002242"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "21935352"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21935352"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	BAK, BCL2L7, BAK-LIKE, CDN1
Proteins	BAK_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	578
API
Download Associations
Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

BAK1 has 9,411 functional associations with biological entities spanning 9 categories (molecular profile, organism, functional term, phrase or reference, chemical, disease, phenotype or trait, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA, sequence feature) extracted from 130 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for BAK1 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Biocarta Pathways	pathways involving BAK1 protein from the Biocarta Pathways dataset.
	BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 gene from the Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of BAK1 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with BAK1 gene mutations from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with BAK1 protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with BAK1 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 BAK1 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of BAK1 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 BAK1 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	CM4AI KOLF21J CRISPRi Gene Perturbation Atlas	gene perturbations changing expression of BAK1 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 BAK1 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing BAK1 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing BAK1 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with BAK1 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 BAK1 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	CORUM Protein Complexes	protein complexs containing BAK1 protein from the CORUM Protein Complexes dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with BAK1 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with BAK1 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with BAK1 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations	traits associated with BAK1 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations dataset.
	DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action	small molecule perturbations with high or low expression of BAK1 protein relative to other small molecule perturbations from the DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action dataset.
	DEPOD Substrates of Phosphatases	phosphatases that dephosphorylate BAK1 protein from the curated DEPOD Substrates of Phosphatases dataset.
	DGIdb Drug Targets 2026	interacting drugs for BAK1 protein from the DGIdb Drug Targets 2026 dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases associated with BAK1 gene in GWAS datasets from the DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases associated with BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with BAK1 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 BAK1 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 BAK1 gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.