Protein / target

Corticotropin-releasing hormone

Encoded byCRHP06850Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot

UniProt: P06850 Ensembl: ENSG00000147571 HGNC: HGNC:2355 NCBI Gene: 1392

Antibody-tractable

Druggability

GO CC high conf

Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 binding

Strongest disease association

Sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy

Via encoding gene CRH · Genetic evidence · score 0.61

Research activity

Emerging research

5 papers · latest 2024

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

Hormone that plays a central role in whole body adaptation to stress.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Hormone that plays a central role in whole body adaptation to stress (By similarity). Released by the hypothalamus primarily in response to physical or psychological stress and acts by binding to CRH receptor CRHR1, and to a lower extent, CRHR2 (PubMed:18801728, PubMed:3003585, PubMed:32004469). CRH-dependent signaling is a primary mediator of the neuroendocrine, autonomic (fight-or-flight) and behavioral responses to stress, acting as a key regulator of adaptation by activating the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, leading to corticotropin hormone (ACTH) production (By similarity). Acts as a 'placental clock' during pregnancy, regulating gestational length, fetal development and the timing of labor (PubMed:7585095). Also acts as a regulator of blastocyst implantation by promoting decidualization, regulating trophoblast invasion and facilitating maternal immune tolerance (PubMed:11590404)

Subcellular location

Secreted

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (62)

Gene Ontology

Cextracellular region
Cextracellular space
Cneuronal dense core vesicle lumen
Cperikaryon
Cpresynapse
Cvaricosity
Fcorticotropin-releasing hormone activity
Fcorticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 binding
Fcorticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 2 binding
Fhormone activity
Fneuropeptide hormone activity
Fsignaling receptor binding

196 aa · 21 kDa

Biological roles

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

Inhibitory neurotransmissionGOCell proliferation & survivalGOMetabolic enzyme activityGOTranscriptional regulationGO

View supporting evidence

Inhibitory neurotransmission

·modulation of inhibitory postsynaptic potential
·regulation of synaptic transmission, GABAergic

Cell proliferation & survival

·positive regulation of cell population proliferation

Metabolic enzyme activity

·diterpenoid metabolic process
·steroid metabolic process

Transcriptional regulation

·negative regulation of gene expression
·positive regulation of gene expression

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 CRH

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene CRHthat 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.

Sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy

0.61Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

Familial sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy

0.61Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy

0.49Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

Malnutrition

0.34Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.21

Alcohol drinking

0.33Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.20

View evidence synthesis (5)

Sleep-related hypermotor epilepsyModerately supported

0.61

agreement 0.47–0.75

Genetic98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 2 independent evidence families

Familial sleep-related hypermotor epilepsyModerately supported

0.61

agreement 0.49–0.73

Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 1 independent evidence family

Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsyLimited support

0.49

agreement 0.35–0.63

Genetic97%Literature3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 2 independent evidence families

MalnutritionLimited support

0.34

agreement 0.20–0.48

Genetic98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.21 · 2 independent evidence families

Alcohol drinkingLimited support

0.33

agreement 0.19–0.47

Genetic93%Literature7%

Open Targets aggregate 0.20 · 2 independent evidence families

This ranking differs from Open Targets' own: re-weighting moves genetically-evidenced diseases above more heavily co-mentioned ones. 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

Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy0.37

Sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy0.37

Familial sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy0.37

Malnutrition0.21

Alcohol drinking0.20

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 20.19

Obesity disorder0.19

Irritable Bowel Syndrome0.11

Tractability

Antibodies — Emerging

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