protein
ADP-ribosylation factor 4
Gene
ARF4
Organism
Homo sapiens(9606)
Length
180 aa
Mass
20,511 Da
ARF4 (ADP-ribosylation factor 4) is a small GTP-binding protein that functions as an allosteric activator of cholera toxin and plays a central role in intracellular protein trafficking (UniProt: P18085). It modulates vesicle budding and uncoating within the Golgi apparatus and participates in the ciliary targeting complex alongside Rab11, ASAP1, Rabin8, and RAB11FIP3 to direct preciliary vesicle trafficking during ciliogenesis.
ARF4 is widely distributed across cellular compartments involved in membrane transport and organelle organization. The UniProt annotation does not list primary disease associations, but the protein's role in vesicular trafficking implicates it in processes relevant to neuronal function and cell-autonomous homeostasis.
In Alzheimer's disease, ARF4 is downregulated in post-mortem AD brain relative to age-matched controls (Chaparral AD proteomics), with a mean log2 fold-change of −0.30 across a single subcellular fraction from TMT-labeled proteomics data. This modest but consistent reduction suggests potential dysregulation of vesicular trafficking in AD pathology, though the functional consequence requires further investigation.
Generated from the curated entity record below. May contain errors — verify against source links.
Proteomics Evidence · AD
↓ Down in ADP3
not detected
P2
not detected
S2
not detected
S3
-0.300
Mean log₂FC across detected fractions: -0.3004 (1 of 4 fractions detected)
Human post-mortem AD brain vs age-matched controls, TMT-labeled, 4 subcellular fractions (P2, P3, S2, S3), DDA proteomics.
Related Publications
Browse all →Tau molecular diversity contributes to clinical heterogeneity in Alzheimer's disease.
Dujardin Simon et al.Nature medicine2020PMID 32572268Deep Multilayer Brain Proteomics Identifies Molecular Networks in Alzheimer's Disease Progression.
Bai Bing et al.Neuron2020PMID 31926610A Multi-network Approach Identifies Protein-Specific Co-expression in Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Alzheimer's Disease.
Seyfried Nicholas T et al.Cell systems2017PMID 27989508Large-scale deep multi-layer analysis of Alzheimer's disease brain reveals strong proteomic disease-related changes not observed at the RNA level.
Johnson Erik C B et al.Nature neuroscience2022PMID 35115731Organization and regulation of gene transcription.
Cramer PatrickNature2019PMID 31462772
Function
GTP-binding protein that functions as an allosteric activator of the cholera toxin catalytic subunit, an ADP-ribosyltransferase. Involved in protein trafficking; may modulate vesicle budding and uncoating within the Golgi apparatus. Part of the ciliary targeting complex containing Rab11, ASAP1, Rabin8/RAB3IP, RAB11FIP3 and ARF4, which direct preciliary vesicle trafficking to mother centriole and ciliogenesis initiation (PubMed:25673879)
Sources
Last updated 5/8/2026, 6:30:51 AM