# DICER1

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/dicer1/  
OnCo record `dicer1` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

DICER1 (Endoribonuclease Dicer) is an enzyme. The public catalogues list it as an oncogene driver, a tumour suppressor and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Lung cancer, Sarcomas, Brain and spinal cord tumours and 5 more.

## Summary

Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) endoribonuclease playing a central role in short dsRNA-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing. Cleaves naturally occurring long dsRNAs and short hairpin pre-microRNAs (miRNA) into fragments of twenty-one to twenty-three nucleotides with 3' overhang of two nucleotides, producing respectively short interfering RNAs (siRNA) and mature microRNAs. SiRNAs and miRNAs serve as guide to direct the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) to complementary RNAs to degrade them or prevent their translation.

CIViC holds 31 clinical evidence items and 3 assertions across 15 variants. Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.87 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.99, genetic association 0.80, somatic mutation 0.85, genetic literature 0.92). IntOGen calls it a driver in 4 cohorts (1 activating, 3 loss-of-function), covering Colorectal Adenocarcinoma, Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Melanoma, Endometrial Carcinoma.

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: dicer 1, ribonuclease III; Endoribonuclease Dicer; Dicer; KIAA0928; K12H4.8-LIKE; HERNA; MNG1
- Tags: cancer-genes-wave
- Symbol: DICER1
- Class: enzyme
- Biology: Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) endoribonuclease playing a central role in short dsRNA-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing. Cleaves naturally occurring long dsRNAs and short hairpin pre-microRNAs (miRNA) into fragments of twenty-one to twenty-three nucleotides with 3' overhang of two nucleotides, producing respectively short interfering RNAs (siRNA) and mature microRNAs. SiRNAs and miRNAs serve as guide to direct the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) to complementary RNAs to degrade them or prevent their translation. Gene silencing mediated by siRNAs, also called RNA interference, controls the elimination of transcripts from mobile and repetitive DNA elements of the genome but also the degradation of exogenous RNA of viral origin for instance. The miRNA pathway on the other side is a mean to specifically regulate the expression of target genes. Location: Cytoplasm; Cytoplasm, perinuclear region (UniProt). Locus 14q32.13 (HGNC).
- Where found: Lung cancer: Open Targets association 0.80 with lung cancer (MONDO_0008903); Sarcomas: Open Targets association 0.79 with sarcoma (MONDO_0005089); Brain and spinal cord tumours: Open Targets association 0.66 with brain cancer (MONDO_0001657); Ovarian cancer: Open Targets association 0.62 with ovarian cancer (MONDO_0008170); Skin cancer: Open Targets association 0.57 with skin cancer (MONDO_0002898); Colorectal cancer: Open Targets association 0.56 with colorectal cancer (MONDO_0005575); IntOGen driver in 1 cohort (COADREAD)

## Notes

- Written by scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts from CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC and UniProt; the function text is UniProt's, condensed and in UK spelling. Roles: IntOGen calls it an activating (Act) driver in 1 cohort; IntOGen calls it a loss-of-function (LoF) driver in 3 cohorts; CIViC holds 31 clinical evidence items on its variants. Evidence tier "clinical-evidence" is the strongest of those signals.
- Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.
- Diseases the sources name that have no OnCo cancer page yet, so they are not linked: Sertoli-Leydig Cell Tumour; Gynandroblastoma; Anaplastic Sarcoma Of The Kidney; Pleuropulmonary Blastoma; Glandular Pattern Ovarian Yolk Sac Tumour; Pituitary Blastoma; Granulosa Cell Tumour; Mature Teratoma Of The Ovary.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:17098: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:17098
- UniProt Q9UPY3: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q9UPY3/entry
- NCBI Gene 23405: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/23405
- Ensembl ENSG00000100697: https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000100697

## Connected records

- collections: [CIViC](https://onco.cc/collections/civic/), [IntOGen](https://onco.cc/collections/intogen/), [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)
- cancers: [Brain and spinal cord tumours (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/brain-tumours/), [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Endometrial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/endometrial/), [Lung cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/lung-cancer/), [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Ovarian cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/ovarian/), [Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)](https://onco.cc/cancers/sarcoma/), [Skin cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/skin-cancer/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/dicer1.json