Protein / target
Beta-nerve growth factor
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Metalloendopeptidase inhibitor
Strongest disease association
Hypertension
Therapeutic position
Established drug target
Research activity
Emerging research
Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.
Protein profile
Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.
Function overview
Nerve growth factor is important for the development and maintenance of the sympathetic and sensory nervous systems.
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Nerve growth factor is important for the development and maintenance of the sympathetic and sensory nervous systems (PubMed:14976160, PubMed:20978020). Extracellular ligand for the NTRK1 and NGFR receptors, activates cellular signaling cascades to regulate neuronal proliferation, differentiation and survival (Probable) (PubMed:20978020). The immature NGF precursor (proNGF) functions as a ligand for the heterodimeric receptor formed by SORCS2 and NGFR, and activates cellular signaling cascades that lead to inactivation of RAC1 and/or RAC2, reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and neuronal growth cone collapse. In contrast to mature NGF, the precursor form (proNGF) promotes neuronal apoptosis (in vitro) (By similarity). Inhibits metalloproteinase-dependent proteolysis of platelet glycoprotein VI (PubMed:20164177). Binds lysophosphatidylinositol and lysophosphatidylserine between the two chains of the homodimer. The lipid-bound form promotes histamine relase from mast cells, contrary to the lipid-free form (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (26)Hide
Gene Ontology
- Ccytosol
- Cendosome lumen
- Cextracellular region
- Cextracellular space
- CGolgi lumen
- Csynaptic vesicle
- Fgrowth factor activity
- Flipid binding
- Fmetalloendopeptidase inhibitor activity
- Fnerve growth factor receptor binding
- Ftransmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activator activity
- Pcell surface receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Receptor tyrosine kinase signalling
- ·transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activator activity
- ·cell surface receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway
Synaptic signalling
- ·modulation of chemical synaptic transmission
Cell proliferation & survival
- ·negative regulation of cell population proliferation
Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.
Translational evidence
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 NGF
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene NGFthat 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.
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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.
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Drug development
5 compounds recorded · 1 approved · 4 in clinical development
View all recorded compounds (5)Hide
Open Targets known-drugs universe. Drug name and highest clinical stage only — the disease relationship is NOT read from this slice (it carries trial-context noise); approved indications come from the canonical graph above.
Tractability
Small molecules — Emerging
Antibodies — Strong
Protein degraders — Emerging
View underlying tractability evidence (6)Hide
Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.
Research activity
Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.
Most cited
Recent
Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.