Protein / target

Collagenase 3

MMP13P45452Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
2
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Serine-type endopeptidase activity

Primary system

Musculoskeletal system

Strongest disease association

metaphyseal anadysplasia

Genetic literature evidence · score 0.84

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

2 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

2 approved · 3 in clinical development

30 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

Plays a role in the degradation of extracellular matrix proteins including fibrillar collagen, fibronectin, TNC and ACAN. Cleaves triple helical collagens, including type I, type II and type III collagen, but has the highest activity with soluble type II collagen. Can also degrade collagen type IV, type XIV and type X. May also function by activating or degrading key regulatory proteins, such as TGFB1 and CCN2. Plays a role in wound healing, tissue remodeling, cartilage degradation, bone development, bone mineralization and ossification. Required for normal embryonic bone development and ossification. Plays a role in the healing of bone fractures via endochondral ossification. Plays a role in wound healing, probably by a mechanism that involves proteolytic activation of TGFB1 and degradation of CCN2. Plays a role in keratinocyte migration during wound healing. May play a role in cell migration and in tumor cell invasion

Subcellular location

Secreted, extracellular space, extracellular matrixSecreted
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (17)

Gene Ontology

  • Cextracellular matrix
  • Cextracellular region
  • Cextracellular space
  • Fcalcium ion binding
  • Fcollagen binding
  • Fendopeptidase activity
  • Fmetalloendopeptidase activity
  • Fserine-type endopeptidase activity
  • Fzinc ion binding
  • Pbone mineralization
  • Pbone morphogenesis
  • Pcollagen catabolic process

471 aa · 54 kDa

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Cell adhesionUniProt · GO · ReactomeProteolysisGO
View supporting evidence

Cell adhesion

  • ·Plays a role in the degradation of extracellular matrix proteins including fibrillar col…
  • ·Secreted, extracellular space, extracellular matrix
  • ·extracellular matrix
  • ·extracellular matrix disassembly

Proteolysis

  • ·endopeptidase activity
  • ·metalloendopeptidase activity
  • ·serine-type endopeptidase activity
  • ·proteolysis
View underlying pathways (5)

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.

TIMP2RUNX2ACANCOL10A1PLGADAMTS3ADAMTS4ADAMTS5TIMP1COL2A1MMP13

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.

Doxycycline
ApprovedInhibitor

Matrix metalloproteinase 13 inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving acne, periodontitis, infection, rosacea

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 59 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

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.

Strongest genetic associations

Human genetic evidence — the most direct causal link between this target and a disease.

metaphyseal anadysplasia0.84

Genetic literature · overall 0.73

spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia, Missouri type0.84

Genetic · overall 0.79

metaphyseal chondrodysplasia, Spahr type0.77

Genetic · overall 0.69

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

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

acne0.99

Clinical · overall 0.60

rosacea0.95

Clinical · overall 0.58

periodontitis0.91

Clinical · overall 0.57

infection0.89

Clinical · overall 0.55

spotted fever0.81

Clinical · overall 0.49

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

typhus0.48

Clinical

pneumonia0.47

Clinical

Show all associations
spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia, Missouri type0.79
metaphyseal anadysplasia0.73
metaphyseal chondrodysplasia, Spahr type0.69
acne0.60
rosacea0.58
periodontitis0.57
infection0.55
spotted fever0.49
typhus0.48
pneumonia0.47

Open Targets ranks 1,443 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 · 5 total

DOXYCYCLINE HYCLATEApproval

acne · rosacea · Osteopenia

CTS-1027Phase 2

hepatitis C virus infection · hepatitis C virus infection · hepatitis C virus infection

REBIMASTATPhase 3

Kaposi's sarcoma · non-small cell lung carcinoma · prostate cancer

APRATASTATPhase 2

rheumatoid arthritis

DOXYCYCLINEApproval

acne · periodontitis · infection

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Small Molecule Binder

Safety liabilities

regulation of catalytic activity

Clinical trials

30

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

Show remaining trials (24)

COMPLETED · via Doxycycline · NCT01783860

WITHDRAWN · via Doxycycline · NCT04433078

COMPLETED · via Doxycycline · NCT00066027

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Related literature

1

Papers indexed under “Matrix Metalloproteinase 13” — a subject heading that covers this protein without being specific to it. Shown as context; not counted as this protein's own research activity.

The Role of Inflammation in the Pathogenesis of Osteoarthritis.

Chow YY · Mediators of inflammation · 2020

Europe PMC literature, reached through a MeSH descriptor linked to this protein.

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.

spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia, Missouri typeWell supported
0.88
agreement 0.751.00
Genetic81%Animal model19%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.79 · 2 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

metaphyseal anadysplasiaWell supported
0.85
agreement 0.730.97
Genetic78%Animal model21%Literature0%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.73 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

metaphyseal chondrodysplasia, Spahr typeWell supported
0.82
agreement 0.700.94
Genetic78%Animal model22%Literature1%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.69 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

acneModerately supported
0.75
agreement 0.590.90
Clinical99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

rosaceaModerately supported
0.71
agreement 0.550.88
Clinical100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.58 · 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

17

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. Label change2026-06-12

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  2. Label change2025-04-25

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  3. Label change2025-04-25

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  4. Label change2025-03-31

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA207757)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  5. New publication2024-01-30
    Guidelines of care for the management of acne vulgaris.

    Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · 2024 · 236 citations · Europe PMC · via Doxycycline

  6. Label change2020-07-08

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA207757)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  7. New publication2020-05-01
    Effect of Doxycycline on Aneurysm Growth Among Patients With Small Infrarenal Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

    JAMA · 2020 · 114 citations · Europe PMC · via Doxycycline

  8. Regulatory approval2017-09-28

    Approval: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA207757)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  9. Label change2017-09-19

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  10. Label change2016-10-18

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  11. New publication2014-10-28
    In vitro and in vivo evaluation of doxycycline-chondroitin sulfate/PCLmicrospheres for intraarticular treatment of osteoarthritis.

    Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials · 2015 · 15 citations · Europe PMC · via Doxycycline

  12. Regulatory approval2014-03-05

    Approval: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

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.