Protein / target

Sex hormone-binding globulin

Encoded bySHBGP04278Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot

UniProt: P04278 Ensembl: ENSG00000129214 HGNC: HGNC:10839 NCBI Gene: 6462

Small-molecule tractable

Druggability

Structure with Ligand

Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Androgen binding

Strongest disease association

Testicular Diseases

Via encoding gene SHBG · Genetic evidence · score 0.73

Research activity

Emerging research

12 papers · latest 2025

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

Functions as an androgen transport protein, but may also be involved in receptor mediated processes.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Functions as an androgen transport protein, but may also be involved in receptor mediated processes. Each dimer binds one molecule of steroid. Specific for 5-alpha-dihydrotestosterone, testosterone, and 17-beta-estradiol. Regulates the plasma metabolic clearance rate of steroid hormones by controlling their plasma concentration

Subcellular location

Secreted

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (7)

Domains & features

Laminin G-like 1Laminin G-like 2

Gene Ontology

Cextracellular exosome
Cextracellular region
Cextracellular space
Fandrogen binding
Fsteroid binding

402 aa · 44 kDa · 5 isoforms

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 SHBG

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene SHBGthat 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.

Testicular Diseases

0.73Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.44

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2

0.69Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.41

Smoking cessation

0.50Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.30

Hypogonadism

0.49Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.28

Osteoarthritis, Hip

0.39Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.23

View evidence synthesis (5)

Testicular DiseasesModerately supported

0.73

agreement 0.59–0.87

Genetic99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.44 · 2 independent evidence families

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2Moderately supported

0.69

agreement 0.55–0.82

Genetic81%Literature19%

Open Targets aggregate 0.41 · 2 independent evidence families

Smoking cessationLimited support

0.50

agreement 0.38–0.62

Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.30 · 1 independent evidence family

HypogonadismLimited support

0.49

agreement 0.35–0.63

Genetic82%Literature18%

Open Targets aggregate 0.28 · 2 independent evidence families

Osteoarthritis, HipLimited support

0.39

agreement 0.27–0.51

Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.23 · 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 per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations

Testicular Diseases0.44

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 20.41

Smoking cessation0.30

Hypogonadism0.28

Osteoarthritis, Hip0.23

Atrial Fibrillation0.17

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome0.12

Metabolic Syndrome0.12

Tractability

Small molecules — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (structure with ligand and high-quality ligand) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Antibodies — Emerging

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

Protein degraders — Emerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (8)

SM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · GO CC med confPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.