F12

Chr 5ADAR

coagulation factor XII

Also known as: HAE3, HAEX, HAF

This gene encodes coagulation factor XII which circulates in blood as a zymogen. This single chain zymogen is converted to a two-chain serine protease with an heavy chain (alpha-factor XIIa) and a light chain. The heavy chain contains two fibronectin-type domains, two epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like domains, a kringle domain and a proline-rich domain, whereas the light chain contains only a catalytic domain. On activation, further cleavages takes place in the heavy chain, resulting in the production of beta-factor XIIa light chain and the alpha-factor XIIa light chain becomes beta-factor XIIa heavy chain. Prekallikrein is cleaved by factor XII to form kallikrein, which then cleaves factor XII first to alpha-factor XIIa and then to beta-factor XIIa. The active factor XIIa participates in the initiation of blood coagulation, fibrinolysis, and the generation of bradykinin and angiotensin. It activates coagulation factors VII and XI. Defects in this gene do not cause any clinical symptoms and the sole effect is that whole-blood clotting time is prolonged. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

Primary Disease Associations & Inheritance

Angioedema, hereditary, 3MIM #610618
AD
Factor XII deficiencyMIM #234000
AR
0
Active trials
74
Pathogenic / LP
302
ClinVar variants
6
Pubs (1 yr)
0.9
Missense Z
0.78
LOEUF
Clinical SummaryF12
🧬
Gene-Disease Validity (ClinGen)
congenital factor XII deficiency · ARDefinitive

Definitive — sufficient evidence for diagnostic panels

2 total gene-disease associations curated

Population Constraint (gnomAD)
Low constraint (pLI 0.00) — loss-of-function variants are relatively tolerated in the population.
📋
ClinVar Variants
74 Pathogenic / Likely Pathogenic· 127 VUS of 302 total submissions

Population Genetics & Constraint

gnomAD v4 — loss-of-function & missense intolerance

Tolerant — LoF & missense variants common in population
LoF Constraint?LOEUF (Loss-of-function Observed/Expected Upper bound Fraction) is the upper bound of the 90% CI for LoF OE — the preferred gnomAD v4 metric. Lower = more intolerant to LoF. LOEUF < 0.35 = highly constrained.
0.78LOEUF
pLI 0.000
Z-score 2.57
OE 0.52 (0.350.78)
Tolerant

Typical tolerance to LoF variation

Missense Constraint?Missense Z-score: standard deviations fewer missense variants observed vs. expected. Z > 3.09 (p < 0.001) = gene does not tolerate missense variation. OE missense < 0.6 is also considered constrained.
0.92Z-score
OE missense 0.86 (0.790.95)
307 obs / 356.1 exp
Tolerant

Mild missense constraint

Observed / Expected Ratios?Shaded band = 90% confidence interval. Vertical tick = point estimate. Grey threshold line = gnomAD constraint cutoff for that variant class.
LoF OE?Ratio of observed to expected LoF variants. Upper CI bound (LOEUF) ≤ 0.35 = strong LoF constraint signal.0.52 (0.350.78)
00.351.4
Missense OE?Ratio of observed to expected missense variants. OE ≤ 0.6 = fewer missense variants than expected by chance.0.86 (0.790.95)
00.61.4
Synonymous OE?Control metric — synonymous variants are largely neutral and expected near OE = 1.0. Significant deviation may indicate annotation issues.0.95
01.21.6
LoF obs/exp: 17 / 32.9Missense obs/exp: 307 / 356.1Syn Z: 0.48
DN
0.6452th %ile
GOF
0.6737th %ile
LOF
0.2874th %ile

This gene has evidence for multiple mechanisms of pathogenicity (gain-of-function and dominant-negative). Both the Badonyi & Marsh prediction and the broader genomic evidence point to gain-of-function as the predominant mechanism. Different variants in this gene may act through different mechanisms — interpret in context of the specific variant.

GOFprediction above median · 1 literature citation
DNprediction above median

Note: In-silico variant effect predictors (SIFT, PolyPhen, REVEL, CADD) may underestimate pathogenicity of missense variants in genes with GOF or DN mechanisms. Consider functional evidence and clinical context.

Literature Evidence

GOFThe data strongly suggested that T328K is a gain-of-function mutation that markedly increases F12 amadolytic activity but that does not alter F12 plasma levels.PMID:17186468

Predictions from Badonyi M, Marsh JA. PLoS ONE. 2024;19(8):e0307312.

ClinVar Variant Classifications

302 submitted variants in ClinVar

Classification Summary

Pathogenic59
Likely Pathogenic15
VUS127
Likely Benign62
Benign18
Conflicting21
59
Pathogenic
15
Likely Pathogenic
127
VUS
62
Likely Benign
18
Benign
21
Conflicting

Curated Variants Distribution

Classified variants from ClinVar · 5 ACMG categories

ClassificationLoFMissense + InframeNon-codingSynonymousTotal
Pathogenic
4
4
51
0
59
Likely Pathogenic
5
1
9
0
15
VUS
2
96
20
9
127
Likely Benign
0
11
22
29
62
Benign
0
2
15
1
18
Conflicting
21
Total1111411739302

LoF = frameshift, stop gained/lost, canonical splice · Counts from ClinVar esearch · Updated hourly

View in ClinVar →

Protein Context — Lollipop Plot

F12 · protein map & ClinVar variants

Showing all ClinVar variants across the protein. Search a specific variant to highlight its position.

Gene2Phenotype Curations

F12-related angioneurotic oedema, hereditary, with normal C1 inhibitor concentration and function

definitive
ADGain Of FunctionAltered Gene Product Structure
Skin
G2P ↗

Gene2Phenotype curations · DECIPHER consortium patient cohort (public variants) · deciphergenomics.org

Clinical Trials

Active and recruiting trials from ClinicalTrials.gov

No active trials found for this gene.

Search ClinicalTrials.gov →
Clinical Literature
Landmark / reviewRecent case evidence