CTTN Gene

Name	cortactin
Description	This gene is overexpressed in breast cancer and squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. The encoded protein is localized in the cytoplasm and in areas of the cell-substratum contacts. This gene has two roles: (1) regulating the interactions between components of adherens-type junctions and (2) organizing the cytoskeleton and cell adhesion structures of epithelia and carcinoma cells. During apoptosis, the encoded protein is degraded in a caspase-dependent manner. The aberrant regulation of this gene contributes to tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Three splice variants that encode different isoforms have been identified for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, May 2010]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Cortactin (CTTN) is a multifunctional actin‐regulatory protein that plays a central role in remodeling the cortical cytoskeleton to promote cell motility, invasion, and membrane trafficking. It facilitates the formation and function of invadopodia—specialized, actin‐rich protrusions that mediate extracellular matrix degradation—by coordinating actin polymerization and matrix metalloproteinase secretion."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Cortactin directly interacts with and activates the Arp2/3 complex, often in partnership with nucleation‐promoting factors such as N‑WASP, thereby stimulating the assembly of branched actin networks."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n In addition, cortactin is a key substrate for histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6); its deacetylation modulates the dynamics of actin and microtubule networks, which is critical for efficient cell migration and for processes linked to oncogenic transformation and metastasis."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Cortactin also contributes to the regulation of endothelial barrier function by undergoing rapid tyrosine phosphorylation and relocating to sites of active actin remodeling during the formation of new adhesive contacts."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "6"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Moreover, cortactin functions as a connector between receptor endocytosis and actin polymerization by binding adaptor proteins such as CD2‑associated protein, linking growth factor–induced signaling to the dynamic restructuring of the actin cytoskeleton."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "7"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Collectively, these findings underscore cortactin’s multifaceted roles in reorganizing actin networks to drive cellular processes essential for normal physiology—and their dysregulation in disease states such as cancer.\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Emily S Clark, Amy S Whigham, Wendell G Yarbrough, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cortactin is an essential regulator of matrix metalloproteinase secretion and extracellular matrix degradation in invadopodia."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cancer Res (2007)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-3928"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-3928"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "17483334"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17483334"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Christopher C Mader, Matthew Oser, Marco A O Magalhaes, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "An EGFR-Src-Arg-cortactin pathway mediates functional maturation of invadopodia and breast cancer cell invasion."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cancer Res (2011)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-1432"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-1432"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "21257711"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21257711"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Narcisa Martinez-Quiles, Hsin-Yi Henry Ho, Marc W Kirschner, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Erk/Src phosphorylation of cortactin acts as a switch on-switch off mechanism that controls its ability to activate N-WASP."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Cell Biol (2004)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1128/MCB.24.12.5269-5280.2004"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1128/MCB.24.12.5269-5280.2004"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "15169891"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15169891"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Xiaohong Zhang, Zhigang Yuan, Yingtao Zhang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "HDAC6 modulates cell motility by altering the acetylation level of cortactin."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Cell (2007)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.molcel.2007.05.033"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2007.05.033"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "17643370"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17643370"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Grace I Aldana-Masangkay, Kathleen M Sakamoto "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "The role of HDAC6 in cancer."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biomed Biotechnol (2011)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1155/2011/875824"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/875824"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "21076528"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21076528"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Steven M Dudek, Jeffrey R Jacobson, Eddie T Chiang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Pulmonary endothelial cell barrier enhancement by sphingosine 1-phosphate: roles for cortactin and myosin light chain kinase."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2004)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M313969200"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M313969200"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "15056655"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15056655"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Danielle K Lynch, Stephanie C Winata, Ruth J Lyons, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "A Cortactin-CD2-associated protein (CD2AP) complex provides a novel link between epidermal growth factor receptor endocytosis and the actin cytoskeleton."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2003)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M211407200"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M211407200"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "12672817"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12672817"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	EMS1
Proteins	SRC8_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	2017
API
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Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

CTTN has 12,997 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 136 datasets.

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

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

CTTN Gene

Functional Associations

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

	Dataset	Summary
	Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles	cell lines with fitness changed by CTTN gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of CTTN 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 CTTN 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 CTTN 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 CTTN 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 CTTN 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 CTTN gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Biocarta Pathways	pathways involving CTTN protein from the Biocarta Pathways dataset.
	BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of CTTN 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 CTTN 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 CTTN gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of CTTN gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of CTTN gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with CTTN gene mutations from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with CTTN protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with CTTN 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 CTTN gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of CTTN 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 CTTN gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies	assemblies containing CTTN protein from integrated AP-MS and IF data from the CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies dataset.
	CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of CTTN gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing CTTN protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing CTTN protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with CTTN 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 CTTN protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	CORUM Protein Complexes	protein complexs containing CTTN protein from the CORUM Protein Complexes dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of CTTN gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with CTTN gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with CTTN gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with CTTN gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations	traits associated with CTTN 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 CTTN protein relative to other small molecule perturbations from the DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by CTTN gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DEPOD Substrates of Phosphatases	phosphatases that dephosphorylate CTTN protein from the curated DEPOD Substrates of Phosphatases dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases associated with CTTN 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 CTTN 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 CTTN 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 CTTN gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with CTTN 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 CTTN gene from the ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles dataset.