PAX1

Chr 20AR

paired box 1

Also known as: HUP48, OFC2, OTFCS2

This gene is a member of the paired box (PAX) family of transcription factors. Members of the PAX family typically contain a paired box domain and a paired-type homeodomain. These genes play critical roles during fetal development. This gene plays a role in pattern formation during embryogenesis and may be essential for development of the vertebral column. This gene is silenced by methylation in ovarian and cervical cancers and may be a tumor suppressor gene. Mutations in this gene are also associated with vertebral malformations. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2012]

Primary Disease Associations & Inheritance

Otofaciocervical syndrome 2 with T-cell deficiencyMIM #615560
AR
2
Active trials
32
Pathogenic / LP
497
ClinVar variants
5
Pubs (1 yr)
-0.8
Missense Z
0.50
LOEUF
Clinical SummaryPAX1
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Gene-Disease Validity (ClinGen)
otofaciocervical syndrome 2 · ARDefinitive

Definitive — sufficient evidence for diagnostic panels

Population Constraint (gnomAD)
Moderately constrained gene (pLI 0.70) — some intolerance to loss-of-function variants.
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ClinVar Variants
32 Pathogenic / Likely Pathogenic· 247 VUS of 497 total submissions
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Clinical Trials
2 active or recruiting trials — potential therapeutic options may be available

Population Genetics & Constraint

gnomAD v4 — loss-of-function & missense intolerance

Moderate LoF intolerance
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.
0.50LOEUF
pLI 0.700
Z-score 2.77
OE 0.16 (0.060.50)
Moderately constrained

More LoF-intolerant than ~75% of genes

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.
-0.76Z-score
OE missense 1.13 (1.031.24)
305 obs / 270.0 exp
Tolerant

Tolerant to missense variation

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.0.16 (0.060.50)
00.351.4
Missense OE?Ratio of observed to expected missense variants. OE ≤ 0.6 = fewer missense variants than expected by chance.1.13 (1.031.24)
00.61.4
Synonymous OE?Control metric — synonymous variants are largely neutral and expected near OE = 1.0. Significant deviation may indicate annotation issues.1.28
01.21.6
LoF obs/exp: 2 / 12.6Missense obs/exp: 305 / 270.0Syn Z: -2.44
DN
0.6260th %ile
GOF
0.4875th %ile
LOF
0.69top 10%

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

LOFprediction above median · 41% of P/LP variants are LoF · LOEUF 0.50
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.

Predictions from Badonyi M, Marsh JA. PLoS ONE. 2024;19(8):e0307312. Mechanism ranking also informed by gnomAD constraint, ClinVar, and ClinGen data.

ClinVar Variant Classifications

497 submitted variants in ClinVar

Classification Summary

Pathogenic21
Likely Pathogenic11
VUS247
Likely Benign201
Benign9
Conflicting8
21
Pathogenic
11
Likely Pathogenic
247
VUS
201
Likely Benign
9
Benign
8
Conflicting

Curated Variants Distribution

Classified variants from ClinVar · 5 ACMG categories

ClassificationLoFMissense + InframeNon-codingSynonymousTotal
Pathogenic
8
1
12
0
21
Likely Pathogenic
5
0
6
0
11
VUS
2
232
13
0
247
Likely Benign
0
9
45
147
201
Benign
0
3
4
2
9
Conflicting
8
Total1524580149497

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

View in ClinVar →

Protein Context — Lollipop Plot

PAX1 · protein map & ClinVar variants

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

Gene2Phenotype Curations

PAX1-related oculo-auriculo-vertebral syndrome

limited
ADUndeterminedAbsent Gene Product
Dev. Disorders
G2P ↗
stop gained NMD triggering

PAX1-related otofaciocervical syndrome

strong
ARLoss Of FunctionAbsent Gene Product
Dev. Disorders
G2P ↗

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

Clinical Literature
Landmark / reviewRecent case evidence