GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:11909

TNFRSF11B

TNF receptor superfamily member 11b

protein-coding gene8q24.12Gene information

What does this gene do?

The TNFRSF11B gene provides instructions for making a protein that plays an important role in bone remodeling, a normal process in which old bone is broken down and replaced by new bone. The TNFRSF11B protein is involved in the regulation of specialized cells called osteoclasts, which break down bone tissue during bone remodeling.

The TNFRSF11B protein belongs to a larger family of receptor proteins. Other proteins, called ligands, can fit into specific sites on receptor proteins like a key into a lock. Together, ligands and their receptors trigger signaling pathways that affect cell development and function. The TNFRSF11B protein works outside of the cell membrane.

The TNFRSF11B protein and a receptor protein called RANK can each attach to a ligand called RANKL. Because RANKL can only bind to one of these proteins at a time, the TNFRSF11B protein and RANK compete with one another. When RANKL is bound to RANK, a series of chemical signals cause osteoclasts to mature and turn on. This leads to the breakdown of bone. When RANKL is bound to the TNFRSF11B protein, these chemical signals are blocked. The TNFRSF11B protein is called a "decoy" receptor protein because no chemical signals are transmitted when RANKL is attached to this protein.

By influencing the amount of RANKL that is available to bind to RANK and activate osteoclasts, the TNFRSF11B protein plays a critical role in regulating the process of bone remodeling.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2025-11-20. Source review: 2025-11.

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: 316
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 433
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 366
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 15
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 148
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 6

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 TNFRSF11B?

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 15 alleles in TNFRSF11B 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 TNFRSF11B.

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

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