YBX2 Gene

HGNC Family	Y box binding proteins (YBX)
Name	Y box binding protein 2
Description	This gene encodes a nucleic acid binding protein which is highly expressed in germ cells. The encoded protein binds to a Y-box element in the promoters of certain genes but also binds to mRNA transcribed from these genes. Pseudogenes for this gene are located on chromosome 10 and 15. [provided by RefSeq, Feb 2012]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nYBX2—also known as MSY2 or dbpC/contrin—is a germ cell–specific Y‐box binding protein that plays a critical role in the regulation of mRNA translation during spermatogenesis. In germ cells and round spermatids, YBX2 functions as a translational repressor that coordinates the storage and timing of mRNA translation for proteins essential for sperm development. Alterations in YBX2 expression or mutations in its gene have been associated with severe defects in spermatogenesis, including azoospermia and oligozoospermia, suggesting that YBX2 is vital for maintaining proper spermatid maturation. In addition, its transcription in germ cell tumors is regulated by factors such as N‐Myc, and its restricted expression in normal tissues (mainly germ cells and placental trophoblasts) supports its characterization as a potential cancer/testis antigen."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_fs", "start_ref": "1", "end_ref": "6"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n\n"}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nBeyond its physiological role in germ cells, dysregulated YBX2 expression has been implicated in tumorigenesis. In certain cancers—including endometrial cancer and oral squamous cell carcinoma—YBX2 contributes to a cancer stem cell–like phenotype by modulating RNA stability. Elevated levels of YBX2 promote the assembly of cytoplasmic granules that recruit m6A reader proteins, leading to altered stability of key transcripts (for example, those encoding the oncogenic cancer/testis antigen CT45) and thereby fostering enhanced self-renewal, drug resistance, and tumor progression. These findings suggest that YBX2 not only is essential for normal germ cell development but also may serve as a potential therapeutic target in malignancies where its misregulation drives cancer cell survival and stemness."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_fs", "start_ref": "7", "end_ref": "9"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Y Kohno, Y Matsuki, A Tanimoto, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Expression of Y-box-binding protein dbpC/contrin, a potentially new cancer/testis antigen."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Br J Cancer (2006)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/sj.bjc.6602987"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6602987"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "16479255"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16479255"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Takeshi Yoshida, Hiroto Izumi, Takeshi Uchiumi, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Expression and cellular localization of dbpC/Contrin in germ cell tumor cell lines."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Biochim Biophys Acta (2006)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.bbaexp.2006.02.005"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbaexp.2006.02.005"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "16624424"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16624424"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Sue Hammoud, Benjamin R Emery, Diane Dunn, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Sequence alterations in the YBX2 gene are associated with male factor infertility."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Fertil Steril (2009)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.01.009"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.01.009"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "18339382"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18339382"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Ying Deng, Wei Zhang, Dan Su, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Some single nucleotide polymorphisms of MSY2 gene might contribute to susceptibility to spermatogenic impairment in idiopathic infertile men."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Urology (2008)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.urology.2007.12.055"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2007.12.055"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "18372033"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18372033"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Kenneth C Kleene "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Position-dependent interactions of Y-box protein 2 (YBX2) with mRNA enable mRNA storage in round spermatids by repressing mRNA translation and blocking translation-dependent mRNA decay."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Reprod Dev (2016)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1002/mrd.22616"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/mrd.22616"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "26773323"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26773323"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "R Najafipour, Z Rashvand, A Alizadeh, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Association of G/T(rs222859) polymorphism in Exon 1 of YBX2 gene with azoospermia, among Iranian infertile males."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Andrologia (2016)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1111/and.12537"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/and.12537"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "26804374"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26804374"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Izumi Suzuki, Sachiko Yoshida, Kouichi Tabu, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "YBX2 and cancer testis antigen 45 contribute to stemness, chemoresistance and a high degree of malignancy in human endometrial cancer."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Sci Rep (2021)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/s41598-021-83200-5"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83200-5"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "33602962"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33602962"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 8, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Lixin Guo, Qing Lin, Xiqun Zhao, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Circular CDC like kinase 1 suppresses cell apoptosis through miR-18b-5p/Y-box protein 2 axis in oral squamous cell carcinoma."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Bioengineered (2022)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1080/21655979.2022.2027174"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1080/21655979.2022.2027174"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "35156507"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35156507"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 9, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Ying Cai, Na Li, Huaibiao Li "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "YBX2 modulates mRNA stability via interaction with YTHDF2 in endometrial cancer cells."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Exp Cell Res (2023)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.yexcr.2023.113586"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yexcr.2023.113586"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "37030331"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37030331"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	MSY2, CONTRIN, CSDA3, DBPC
Proteins	YBOX2_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	51087
API
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Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

YBX2 has 5,540 functional associations with biological entities spanning 8 categories (molecular profile, organism, chemical, functional term, phrase or reference, disease, phenotype or trait, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA) extracted from 110 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for YBX2 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 gene from the Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of YBX2 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 YBX2 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with YBX2 protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with YBX2 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 YBX2 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing YBX2 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with YBX2 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with YBX2 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with YBX2 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by YBX2 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases associated with YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with YBX2 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 YBX2 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 YBX2 gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of YBX2 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 YBX2 from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GAD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with YBX2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with YBX2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of YBX2 gene relative to other cell lines from the GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.