USP18, Official Symbol USP18provided by HGNC Official Full Name ubiquitin specific peptidase 18provided by HGNC Primary source HGNC:HGNC:12616 See related Ensembl:ENSG00000184979 MIM:607057; AllianceGenome:HGNC:12616 Gene type protein coding RefSeq status VALIDATED Organism Homo sapiens Lineage Eukaryota; Metazoa; Chordata; Craniata; Vertebrata; Euteleostomi; Mammalia; Eutheria; Euarchontoglires; Primates; Haplorrhini; Catarrhini; Hominidae; Homo Also known as ISG43; UBP43; PTORCH2 Summary The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the ubiquitin-specific proteases (UBP) family of enzymes that cleave ubiquitin from ubiquitinated protein substrates. It is highly expressed in liver and thymus, and is localized to the nucleus. This protein efficiently cleaves only ISG15 (a ubiquitin-like protein) fusions, and deletion of this gene in mice results in a massive increase of ISG15 conjugates in tissues, indicating that this protein is a major ISG15-specific protease. Mice lacking this gene are also hypersensitive to interferon, suggesting a function of this protein in downregulating interferon responses, independent of its isopeptidase activity towards ISG15. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2011] Expression Ubiquitous expression in fat (RPKM 6.5), spleen (RPKM 6.3) and 25 other tissues See more Orthologs mouse all