GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:14544

WNK4

WNK lysine deficient protein kinase 4

protein-coding gene17q21.2Gene information

What does this gene do?

The WNK4 gene provides instructions for making a protein that plays a role in blood pressure regulation by helping control the amount of sodium and potassium in the body. The WNK4 protein acts as a kinase, which is an enzyme that changes the activity of other proteins by adding a cluster of oxygen and phosphorus atoms (a phosphate group) at specific positions.

The WNK4 protein regulates channels in the cell membrane that control the transport of sodium or potassium into and out of cells, which occurs primarily in the kidneys. Sodium channels help transport sodium into specialized kidney cells, which then transfer it into the blood. This transfer helps keep sodium in the body through a process called reabsorption. Potassium channels handle excess potassium that has been transferred from the blood into the kidney cells. The channels transport the potassium out of the cells in a process called secretion, so that it can be removed from the body in the urine. The WNK4 protein is able to promote sodium reabsorption and block potassium secretion. Depending on conditions in the cell, the WNK4 protein is also able to block (inhibit) sodium reabsorption.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2023-05-08. Source review: 2016-03.

ClinGen reviews

ClinGen reviews the evidence linking a particular gene to a condition. Each rating below describes the strength of that link. It does not classify a variant in your DNA file.

Condition	Inheritance	Evidence
pseudohypoaldosteronism type 2BMONDO:0013777 · Evaluated 2026-07-21	Autosomal dominant	DefinitiveTubulopathy Gene Curation Expert Panel

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: 682
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 1,072
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 1,054
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 7
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 423
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 45

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 WNK4?

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 7 alleles in WNK4 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 WNK4.

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

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