Protein / target

3',5'-cyclic-AMP phosphodiesterase 4C

PDE4CQ08493Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
15
Approved medicines
3
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

3',5'-cyclic-AMP phosphodiesterase activity

Strongest disease association

asthma

Clinical evidence · score 0.60

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

15 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

15 approved · 13 in clinical development

3 linked trials

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function

Hydrolyzes the second messenger cAMP, which is a key regulator of many important physiological processes

Subcellular location

Cell projection, cilium
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (10)

Domains & features

PDEase

Gene Ontology

  • Ccilium
  • Ccytosol
  • Cextracellular space
  • F3',5'-cyclic-AMP phosphodiesterase activity
  • F3',5'-cyclic-GMP phosphodiesterase activity
  • Fmetal ion binding
  • PcAMP catabolic process
  • Pnegative regulation of cAMP/PKA signal transduction
  • Psignal transduction

712 aa · 80 kDa · 7 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

View underlying pathways (2)

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.

ADCY5ADKALDH7A1ENPP3ENPP1APRTAK3DCKADSLPKD2PDE4C

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.

Drugs targeting this protein

1

Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

amlexanox
ApprovedInhibitor

Phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving Airway obstruction, oral mucositis, Obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease

Acts on a complex — shared with PDE4A, PDE4B, PDE4D · 1 of 4 recorded protein targets

ChEMBL mechanism, action type and target identity. Open Targets clinical status and indications.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.

asthma0.99

Clinical · overall 0.60

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

atopic eczema0.98

Clinical · overall 0.59

psoriasis0.97

Clinical · overall 0.59

psoriasis vulgaris0.96

Clinical · overall 0.59

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

psoriatic arthritis0.58

Clinical

Airway obstruction0.58

Clinical

chronic bronchitis0.57

Clinical

coronary artery disorder0.54

Clinical

stroke disorder0.53

Clinical

Show all associations
asthma0.60
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease0.60
atopic eczema0.59
psoriasis0.59
psoriasis vulgaris0.59
psoriatic arthritis0.58
Airway obstruction0.58
chronic bronchitis0.57
coronary artery disorder0.54
stroke disorder0.53

Open Targets ranks 265 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.

Known drugs · 28 total

TETOMILASTPhase 3

ulcerative colitis · Crohn disease · chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

HT-0712Phase 2

Cognitive impairment · asthma · seasonal allergic rhinitis

DOVRAMILASTPhase 2

cutaneous lupus erythematosus · discoid lupus erythematosus · pulmonary tuberculosis

DIPYRIDAMOLEApproval

coronary artery disorder · stroke disorder · Recurrent thrombophlebitis

LOTAMILASTPhase 2

atopic eczema

AMINOPHYLLINEApproval

asthma · Airway obstruction · Headache

DROTAVERINEApproval

gastrointestinal disease · irritable bowel syndrome

DIFAMILASTPhase 3

atopic eczema · Eczematoid dermatitis · atopic eczema

ENSIFENTRINEApproval

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · allergic rhinitis · asthma

TRANIMILASTPhase 3

chronic bronchitis · chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · asthma

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Med-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyPR · LiteraturePR · Small Molecule Binder

Clinical trials

3

Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein.

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.

asthmaModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.590.90
Clinical100%Literature0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.580.89
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

atopic eczemaModerately supported
0.73
agreement 0.570.90
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.59 · 1 independent evidence family

psoriasisModerately supported
0.73
agreement 0.560.89
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.59 · 1 independent evidence family

psoriasis vulgarisModerately supported
0.72
agreement 0.560.89
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.59 · 1 independent evidence family

The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

1

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through a drug that targets this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. New publication2024-04-16
    A phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor, amlexanox, reduces neuroinflammation and neuronal death after pilocarpine-induced seizure.

    Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2024 · 14 citations · Europe PMC · via amlexanox

Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.