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Protein / target

Amphiregulin

Encoded byAREGP15514Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
UniProt: P15514Ensembl: ENSG00000109321HGNC: HGNC:651NCBI Gene: 374
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Druggable Family
2
Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Epidermal growth factor receptor binding

Strongest disease association

Hair color

Via encoding gene AREG · Genetic evidence · score 0.29

Research activity

Emerging research

2 papers · latest 2023

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 overview

Ligand of the EGF receptor/EGFR.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Ligand of the EGF receptor/EGFR. Autocrine growth factor as well as a mitogen for a broad range of target cells including astrocytes, Schwann cells and fibroblasts

Subcellular location

Membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (28)

Domains & features

EGF-like

Gene Ontology

  • Ccell surface
  • Cclathrin-coated endocytic vesicle membrane
  • Cendoplasmic reticulum membrane
  • Cendoplasmic reticulum-Golgi intermediate compartment membrane
  • CER to Golgi transport vesicle membrane
  • Cextracellular region
  • Cextracellular space
  • Cnucleus
  • Fcytokine activity
  • Fepidermal growth factor receptor binding
  • Fgrowth factor activity
  • Freceptor ligand activity

252 aa · 28 kDa

Biological roles

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

Receptor tyrosine kinase signallingGOGrowth-factor signallingGOCell proliferation & survivalGO
View supporting evidence

Receptor tyrosine kinase signalling

  • ·transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activator activity
  • ·ERBB2-EGFR signaling pathway

Growth-factor signalling

  • ·epidermal growth factor receptor binding
  • ·epidermal growth factor receptor signaling pathway

Cell proliferation & survival

  • ·positive regulation of cell population proliferation

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

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.

Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene AREG

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene AREGthat encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.

Neoplasms
0.40Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.49 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Hair color
0.29Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.17

Colorectal adenocarcinoma
0.27Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.19 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Neurodegenerative Diseases
0.26Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.39 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Breast Neoplasms
0.24Preliminary

RNA expression evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.12 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

View evidence synthesis (5)
NeoplasmsPreliminary
0.40
agreement 0.22–0.57
Pathway69%Literature31%

Open Targets aggregate 0.49 · 2 independent evidence families · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Hair colorLimited support
0.29
agreement 0.17–0.41
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.17 · 1 independent evidence family

Colorectal adenocarcinomaPreliminary
0.27
agreement 0.10–0.44
Pathway88%RNA expression12%

Open Targets aggregate 0.19 · 2 independent evidence families · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Neurodegenerative DiseasesPreliminary
0.26
agreement 0.03–0.49
Pathway100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.39 · 1 independent evidence family · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Breast NeoplasmsPreliminary
0.24
agreement 0.05–0.43
RNA expression50%Literature50%

Open Targets aggregate 0.12 · 2 independent evidence families · no direct causal or clinical evidence

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 per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations
Neoplasms0.49
Neurodegenerative Diseases0.39
Colorectal adenocarcinoma0.19
Hair color0.17
Rheumatic Heart Disease0.13
Breast Neoplasms0.12

Tractability

Small molecules — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (druggable family) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Antibodies — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (go cc high conf and uniprot sigp or tmhmm) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Protein degraders — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (database ubiquitination and small molecule binder) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (5)
SM · Druggable FamilyAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Research activity

2 papers · to 2023

Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.

Most cited

Expression of epiregulin and amphiregulin and K-ras mutation status predict disease control in metastatic colorectal cancer patients treated with cetuximab.852 cites

Khambata-Ford S · Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2007

Associations between AI-Assisted Tumor Amphiregulin and Epiregulin IHC and Outcomes from Anti-EGFR Therapy in the Routine Management of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer.22 cites

Williams CJM · Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2023

Recent

Associations between AI-Assisted Tumor Amphiregulin and Epiregulin IHC and Outcomes from Anti-EGFR Therapy in the Routine Management of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer.

Williams CJM · Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2023

Expression of epiregulin and amphiregulin and K-ras mutation status predict disease control in metastatic colorectal cancer patients treated with cetuximab.

Khambata-Ford S · Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2007

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.