RHOU Gene

HGNC Family	Ras small GTPases superfamily
Name	ras homolog family member U
Description	This gene encodes a member of the Rho family of GTPases. This protein can activate PAK1 and JNK1, and can induce filopodium formation and stress fiber dissolution. It may also mediate the effects of WNT1 signaling in the regulation of cell morphology, cytoskeletal organization, and cell proliferation. A non-coding transcript variant of this gene results from naturally occurring read-through transcription between this locus and the neighboring DUSP5P (dual specificity phosphatase 5 pseudogene) locus.[provided by RefSeq, Mar 2011]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nRecent genomic and association studies have implicated the atypical Rho family GTPase RHOU in human cancer. In one genome‐wide study of basal cell carcinoma, a significant risk signal was mapped near RHOU (the gene nearest to the 1q42 locus) suggesting that its genomic region is associated with cancer predisposition."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n\n"}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nMultiple signaling pathways regulate RHOU expression and activation to modulate cytoskeletal dynamics and cell migration. For instance, epidermal growth factor stimulation promotes GRB2‐dependent recruitment of RHOU to endosomes, highlighting its direct coupling with growth factor receptors."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "2"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, activated Notch1 drives RHOU upregulation correlating with enhanced cell adhesion, migration, and chemotaxis, a finding that underscores its role in leukemic dissemination."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Similarly, in multiple myeloma cells, IL-6 stimulates STAT3 activation leading to increased RHOU expression, which in turn modulates both cell motility and cell cycle progression, thereby contributing to disease progression."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n\n"}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nDownstream, RHOU functions as a key mediator of adhesion turnover and migratory behavior by regulating actin cytoskeletal remodeling. Loss of PAK4, for example, results in diminished RHOU levels and impaired cell adhesion dynamics, while restoration of RHOU expression rescues these defects—supporting a cooperative role in adhesion turnover and cell migration."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Moreover, modulation of RHOU activity by posttranslational palmitoylation, which is controlled by fatty acid synthase activity, further influences paxillin phosphorylation and cytoskeletal remodeling, thereby impacting invasive properties."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "6"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Simon N Stacey, Daniel F Gudbjartsson, Patrick Sulem, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Common variants on 1p36 and 1q42 are associated with cutaneous basal cell carcinoma but not with melanoma or pigmentation traits."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nat Genet (2008)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/ng.234"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.234"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "18849993"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18849993"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Jin-San Zhang, Alexander Koenig, Charles Young, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "GRB2 couples RhoU to epidermal growth factor receptor signaling and cell migration."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Biol Cell (2011)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1091/mbc.E10-12-0969"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1091/mbc.E10-12-0969"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "21508312"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21508312"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "P J Bhavsar, E Infante, A Khwaja, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Analysis of Rho GTPase expression in T-ALL identifies RhoU as a target for Notch involved in T-ALL cell migration."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Oncogene (2013)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/onc.2012.42"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2012.42"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "22349824"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22349824"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Sara Canovas Nunes, Martina Manzoni, Marco Pizzi, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "The small GTPase RhoU lays downstream of JAK/STAT signaling and mediates cell migration in multiple myeloma."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Blood Cancer J (2018)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/s41408-018-0053-z"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41408-018-0053-z"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "29440639"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29440639"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Anna E Dart, Gary M Box, William Court, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "PAK4 promotes kinase-independent stabilization of RhoU to modulate cell adhesion."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Cell Biol (2015)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1083/jcb.201501072"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201501072"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "26598620"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26598620"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mario De Piano, Valeria Manuelli, Giorgia Zadra, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Lipogenic signalling modulates prostate cancer cell adhesion and migration via modification of Rho GTPases."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Oncogene (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/s41388-020-1243-2"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-020-1243-2"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "32139877"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32139877"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	ARHU, CDC42L1, G28K, HG28K, WRCH1
Proteins	RHOU_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	58480
API
Download Associations
Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

RHOU has 5,131 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 111 datasets.

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

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with RHOU 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 RHOU gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing RHOU protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with RHOU gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with RHOU gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with RHOU gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by RHOU gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases associated with RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with RHOU 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 RHOU 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 RHOU gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of RHOU 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 RHOU from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GAD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with RHOU gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations	biological terms co-occuring with RHOU 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 RHOU from the GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases	disease perturbations changing expression of RHOU gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Gene Perturbations	gene perturbations changing expression of RHOU gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Gene Perturbations dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Kinase Perturbations	kinase perturbations changing expression of RHOU gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Kinase Perturbations dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of RHOU gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Transcription Factor Perturbations	transcription factor perturbations changing expression of RHOU gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Transcription Factor Perturbations dataset.