HMOX1
Overview
HMOX1 (heme oxygenase 1) is a stress-response enzyme that catabolizes heme and is induced by oxidative stress, including UV radiation. In normal skin biology, its expression marks a high-mutation-burden melanocyte subpopulation with UV-damage signatures.
Alterations observed in the corpus
- HMOX1 is a lead transcriptomic marker of the HighMut melanocyte subpopulation (high UV mutation burden, enriched in interfollicular epidermis) in a single-cell multi-omic atlas of 297 melanocytes from 31 donors; co-expressed with ABCC2, MC1R, HERC2, LIPA, and HLA-DPA1 PMID:39975212.
- HighMut cells expressing HMOX1 carry predominantly UV-attributable SBS7 mutational signatures; LowMut cells lacking this program carry clock-like SBS1/SBS5 signatures PMID:39975212.
Cancer types (linked)
- No cancer-type associations reported in the corpus. Findings are from non-lesional skin of a melanoma patient; no melanoma driver claim is made PMID:39975212.
Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity
Therapeutic relevance
- Not reported in the corpus.
Open questions
- Whether HMOX1 upregulation in UV-damaged melanocytes is protective (cytoprotective heme catabolism) or a marker of malignant potential is not addressed in this study PMID:39975212.
Sources
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