IPO8 Gene

HGNC Family	Importins (IPO)
Name	importin 8
Description	The importin-alpha/beta complex and the GTPase Ran mediate nuclear import of proteins with a classical nuclear localization signal. The protein encoded by this gene is a member of a class of approximately 20 potential Ran targets that share a sequence motif related to the Ran-binding site of importin-beta. This protein binds to the nuclear pore complex and, along with RanGTP and RANBP1, inhibits the GAP stimulation of the Ran GTPase. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2010]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Importin 8 (IPO8) is a member of the karyopherin β family that functions as a dedicated nuclear import receptor for select cargoes and ribonucleoprotein complexes. Notably, IPO8 facilitates the cytoplasm‐to‐nucleus transport of mature microRNAs and associated Argonaute proteins, thereby ensuring efficient microRNA‐guided gene silencing."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n In response to transforming growth factor–β signaling, IPO8 selectively mediates the nuclear import of Smad proteins—most prominently Smad4—an activity that appears to be irreplaceable by other importins."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Moreover, IPO8 contributes to the nuclear localization of key transcriptional regulators through alternative import pathways. For example, it participates in the nuclear import of a subset of NF‐κB p65 that is independent of the classical nuclear localization signal, thereby influencing inflammatory and oncogenic transcriptional responses."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In triple‐negative breast cancer, IPO8 is further exploited by specific oncogenic microRNAs—such as miR551b-3p—for nuclear translocation, leading to the activation of STAT3 transcription and the subsequent upregulation of oncogenic signaling modules."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Finally, the fidelity of IPO8-mediated nuclear import is subject to modulation by tumor suppressor proteins. For instance, ARHI (DIRAS3) can interfere with the binding of importin complexes to their cargo, including STAT3, thereby impeding nuclear entry and influencing oncogenic pathways."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "6"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Collectively, these studies underscore IPO8’s central role in controlling the nuclear localization of diverse regulatory molecules, with important implications for gene silencing, signal transduction, and cancer biology.\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Lasse Weinmann, Julia Höck, Tomi Ivacevic, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Importin 8 is a gene silencing factor that targets argonaute proteins to distinct mRNAs."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cell (2009)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.cell.2008.12.023"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2008.12.023"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "19167051"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19167051"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Yao Wei, Limin Li, Dong Wang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Importin 8 regulates the transport of mature microRNAs into the cell nucleus."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2014)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.C113.541417"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.C113.541417"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24596094"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24596094"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Xiaohao Yao, Xiaochu Chen, Charisa Cottonham, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Preferential utilization of Imp7/8 in nuclear import of Smads."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2008)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M801320200"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M801320200"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "18519565"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18519565"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Peizhou Liang, Haiyan Zhang, Guoxin Wang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "KPNB1, XPO7 and IPO8 mediate the translocation ofNF-κB/p65 into the nucleus."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Traffic (2013)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1111/tra.12097"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/tra.12097"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "23906023"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23906023"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Deepak Parashar, Anjali Geethadevi, Miriam Ragle Aure, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "miRNA551b-3p Activates an Oncostatin Signaling Module for the Progression of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cell Rep (2019)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.085"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.085"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "31875548"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31875548"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Shaoyi Huang, In Soon Chang, Wenbo Lin, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "ARHI (DIRAS3), an imprinted tumour suppressor gene, binds to importins and blocks nuclear import of cargo proteins."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Biosci Rep (2009)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1042/BSR20090008"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1042/BSR20090008"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "19435463"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19435463"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	RANBP8
Proteins	IPO8_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	10526
API
Download Associations
Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

IPO8 has 6,576 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 116 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for IPO8 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 gene from the Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of IPO8 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 IPO8 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with IPO8 protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of IPO8 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 gene from the curated ClinVar Gene-Phenotype Associations 2025 dataset.
	CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies	assemblies containing IPO8 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 IPO8 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing IPO8 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing IPO8 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing IPO8 protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with IPO8 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with IPO8 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations	traits associated with IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases involving IPO8 gene from the DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases co-occuring with IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with IPO8 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 IPO8 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 IPO8 gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of IPO8 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 IPO8 from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of IPO8 gene relative to other cell lines from the GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.