Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase 1 is an

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

that in humans is encoded by the ''USP1''

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

. This gene encodes a member of the

ubiquitin Ubiquitin is a small (8.6 kDa) regulatory protein found in most tissues of eukaryotic organisms, i.e., it is found ''ubiquitously''. It was discovered in 1975 by Gideon Goldstein and further characterized throughout the late 1970s and 19 ...

-specific processing (UBP) family of proteases that is a deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) with His and Cys domains. This protein is located in the

cytoplasm The cytoplasm describes all the material within a eukaryotic or prokaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, including the organelles and excluding the nucleus in eukaryotic cells. The material inside the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell a ...

and cleaves the ubiquitin moiety from ubiquitin-fused precursors and ubiquitinylated proteins. The protein specifically deubiquitinates a protein in the Fanconi anemia (FA) DNA repair pathway. Alternate transcriptional splice variants have been characterized.

Research

UCH-L1 has been studied, in a 2020 paper by Sharma, et al for its association with

neurodegenerative diseases A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Neuronal damage may also ultimately result in their death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, mul ...

(

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

) A 2024 paper by Li, et al indicates possible contribution to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

progression. Apparently via stabilizing proteins that promote cell proliferation (in TNBC, UCHL1 deubiquitinates and stabilizes KLF5, as a consequence there is resistance to endocrine therapy).

Research

References

Further reading