HELQ Gene

Name	helicase, POLQ-like
Description	HEL308 is a single-stranded DNA-dependent ATPase and DNA helicase (Marini and Wood, 2002 [PubMed 11751861]).[supplied by OMIM, Mar 2008]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n HELQ is a superfamily 2 DNA helicase that plays a critical role in maintaining genome stability by facilitating the repair of damaged DNA, particularly at stalled replication forks and during the processing of interstrand cross‐links. In murine models, HELQ deficiency leads to subfertility, germ cell loss, increased sensitivity to crosslinking agents, and a predisposition to tumor formation, underscoring its importance in replication‐coupled repair and in safeguarding the germline."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In human cells, loss of HELQ impairs DNA damage signalling—evidenced by reduced activation of ATR substrates such as CHK1—and compromises repair pathways, thereby enhancing cellular sensitivity to DNA crosslinking agents like mitomycin C. HELQ also forms physical associations with the RAD51 paralog complex (including RAD51B/C/D and XRCC2), functioning in a pathway that operates in parallel to the Fanconi anemia network."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Furthermore, altered HELQ expression has been linked to chemoresistance; for instance, in epithelial ovarian carcinoma and osteosarcoma models, HELQ overexpression correlates with increased resistance to platinum-based therapies via upregulation of nucleotide excision repair proteins and modulation of downstream effectors such as CHK1 and RAD51."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Although genetic screening in certain populations suggests that coding mutations in HELQ are not a major cause of premature ovarian failure, the enzyme’s central role in responding to replication stress and mitigating DNA lesions remains evident. Moreover, expression profiling studies in hematologic malignancies have identified HELQ as part of an interconnected network influencing treatment response and prognosis."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "7"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Carrie A Adelman, Rafal L Lolo, Nicolai J Birkbak, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "HELQ promotes RAD51 paralogue-dependent repair to avert germ cell loss and tumorigenesis."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nature (2013)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/nature12565"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12565"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24005329"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24005329"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Wenting Wang, Shidou Zhao, Lili Zhuang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "The screening of HELQ gene in Chinese patients with premature ovarian failure."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Reprod Biomed Online (2015)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.06.012"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.06.012"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "26190809"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26190809"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Kei-ichi Takata, Shelley Reh, Junya Tomida, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Human DNA helicase HELQ participates in DNA interstrand crosslink tolerance with ATR and RAD51 paralogs."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nat Commun (2013)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/ncomms3338"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3338"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24005565"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24005565"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Spencer W Luebben, Tsuyoshi Kawabata, Monica K Akre, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Helq acts in parallel to Fancc to suppress replication-associated genome instability."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nucleic Acids Res (2013)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1093/nar/gkt676"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkt676"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24005041"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24005041"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Dong Ning Liu, Yun Fei Zhou, Ai Fen Peng, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "HELQ reverses the malignant phenotype of osteosarcoma cells via CHK1-RAD51 signaling pathway."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Oncol Rep (2017)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.3892/or.2016.5329"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2016.5329"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "28000895"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28000895"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Jing Long, Jun-You Zhu, Yong-Bin Liu, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Helicase POLQ-like (HELQ) as a novel indicator of platinum-based chemoresistance for epithelial ovarian cancer."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Gynecol Oncol (2018)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.ygyno.2018.03.006"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygyno.2018.03.006"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "29572031"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29572031"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Liisa M Pelttari, Laura Kinnunen, Johanna I Kiiski, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Screening of HELQ in breast and ovarian cancer families."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Fam Cancer (2016)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1007/s10689-015-9838-4"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10689-015-9838-4"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "26351136"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26351136"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	HEL308
Proteins	HELQ_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	113510
API
Download Associations
Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

HELQ has 4,862 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 110 datasets.

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

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of HELQ gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of HELQ 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 HELQ gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing HELQ protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing HELQ protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing HELQ protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing HELQ protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with HELQ 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 HELQ protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with HELQ gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with HELQ gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with HELQ gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations	traits associated with HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases associated with HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with HELQ 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 HELQ 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 HELQ gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of HELQ 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 HELQ from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GAD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with HELQ gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with HELQ gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations	biological terms co-occuring with HELQ gene in literature-supported statements describing functions of genes from the GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations dataset.
	GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures	PubMedIDs of publications reporting gene signatures containing HELQ from the GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases	disease perturbations changing expression of HELQ gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases dataset.