# GREM1

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/grem1/  
OnCo record `grem1` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

GREM1 (Gremlin-1) is a gene. In the public catalogues the evidence so far is association rather than a proven role. Tied to Colorectal cancer.

## Summary

Cytokine that may play an important role during carcinogenesis and metanephric kidney organogenesis, as a BMP antagonist required for early limb outgrowth and patterning in maintaining the FGF4-SHH feedback loop. Down-regulates the BMP4 signalling in a dose-dependent manner. Antagonist of BMP2; inhibits BMP2-mediated differentiation of osteoblasts (in vitro).

Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.56 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.98, animal model 0.38, genetic association 0.70).

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: gremlin 1, DAN family BMP antagonist; Gremlin-1; gremlin; DAND2; CKTSF1B1; CRAC1
- Tags: cancer-genes-wave
- Symbol: GREM1
- Class: other
- Biology: Cytokine that may play an important role during carcinogenesis and metanephric kidney organogenesis, as a BMP antagonist required for early limb outgrowth and patterning in maintaining the FGF4-SHH feedback loop. Down-regulates the BMP4 signalling in a dose-dependent manner. Antagonist of BMP2; inhibits BMP2-mediated differentiation of osteoblasts (in vitro). Acts as inhibitor of monocyte chemotaxis. Can inhibit the growth or viability of normal cells but not transformed cells when is overexpressed. Location: Secreted (UniProt). Locus 15q13.3 (HGNC).
- Where found: Colorectal cancer: Open Targets association 0.56 with colorectal cancer (MONDO_0005575)

## 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: none stated by the sources. Evidence tier "association-only" is the strongest of those signals.
- Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:2001: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:2001
- UniProt O60565: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/O60565/entry
- NCBI Gene 26585: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/26585
- Ensembl ENSG00000166923: https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000166923

## Connected records

- collections: [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)
- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/grem1.json