GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:17967

IRAK4

interleukin 1 receptor associated kinase 4

protein-coding gene12q12Gene information

What does this gene do?

The IRAK4 gene provides instructions for making a protein that plays an important role in innate immunity, which is the body's early, nonspecific response to foreign invaders (pathogens). The IRAK-4 protein is part of a signaling pathway that is involved in early recognition of pathogens and the initiation of inflammation to fight infection.

In particular, the IRAK-4 protein relays signals from proteins called Toll-like receptors and IL-1 receptor-related proteins. As one of the first lines of defense against infection, Toll-like receptors recognize patterns that are common to many pathogens, rather than recognizing specific pathogens, and stimulate a quick immune response. The IL-1 receptor and related proteins recognize immune system proteins called cytokines that signal the need for an immune response. The resulting signaling pathway triggers inflammation, a nonspecific immune response that helps fight infection.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2020-08-18. Source review: 2011-11.

ClinGen reviews

We found no matching ClinGen review in the data used here. This does not rule out a link between the gene and a condition.

ClinVar records

These numbers show what has been submitted to ClinVar. They cannot tell you how likely you are to have a condition.

Submitted alleles: 417
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 538
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 506
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 40
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 193
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 9

The rows count different things: alleles, submissions or VariationIDs. Their categories can overlap, so do not add them together. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic counts exclude structural variants that merely overlap a gene. A dash in the source means “not reported,” not zero.

NCBI produces the gene-summary file each week using counts recorded at the start of the month. The numbers may differ from those on the live ClinVar website. Read the field definitions ↗

View this gene in ClinVar ↗

YOUR DNA FILE

Can your DNA file tell you about IRAK4?

From a DNA test kit (such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage). These kits check a fixed list of about 600,000 to 700,000 positions across your whole genome. ClinVar lists 40 alleles in IRAK4 reported as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. A kit checks only some of these positions, and often none of them.

From whole genome sequencing (a VCF file). Sequencing reads most of your genome. Your file lists the places where your DNA differs from the reference genome. Some regions are hard to sequence, including parts of some genes that have near-identical copies elsewhere, and a VCF file does not record which positions were read well.

If a variant is not in your file, that does not mean you don’t have it.

What BioDecode checks

BioDecode compares every variant in your file with ClinVar, on your own computer. For each match, it shows the ClinVar classification, the review status and the condition it was reported for. Your file is not uploaded.

A ClinVar classification applies to one particular variant and the condition it was reported for. It does not tell you about other variants in IRAK4.

BioDecode cannot fill gaps in your test, diagnose a condition or replace clinical testing.

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