CFAP36

CFAP36, full name cilia and flagella associated protein 36, has key aliases including BARTL1, CCDC104 and MGC15407. As a conserved ubiquitin reader and ARL3 effector at the ciliary transition zone, it mediates retrograde ciliary transport of polyubiquitinated proteins, sustaining ciliary and flagellar structure and function. It modulates PI3K/Akt and Wnt pathways, and regulates Hh signaling to maintain cellular signal transduction and axonemal integrity.
CFAP36 dysfunction links to male infertility with asthenozoospermia, retinitis pigmentosa 2 and Joubert syndrome 22, and its autoantibody correlates with paraneoplastic neurological syndromes. No clinical drugs target CFAP36 yet; preclinical research focuses on ARL3 modulators to restore its ciliary transport function, and its role as a biomarker for male infertility is under further experimental validation.