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Protein / target

Glycine receptor subunit beta

Encoded byGLRBP48167Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
6
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Glycine-gated chloride channel

Primary biology

Neuronal / synaptic signalling

Strongest disease association

Hyperekplexia 2

Via encoding gene GLRB · Genetic evidence · score 0.92

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

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

Subunit of heteromeric glycine-gated chloride channels.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Subunit of heteromeric glycine-gated chloride channels (PubMed:11929858, PubMed:15302677, PubMed:16144831, PubMed:22715885, PubMed:23238346, PubMed:25445488, PubMed:34473954, PubMed:8717357). Plays an important role in the down-regulation of neuronal excitability (PubMed:11929858, PubMed:23238346). Contributes to the generation of inhibitory postsynaptic currents (PubMed:25445488)

Subcellular location

Postsynaptic cell membraneSynapseCell projection, dendriteCell membraneCytoplasm
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (22)

Gene Ontology

  • Ccytoplasm
  • Cdendrite
  • CGABA-ergic synapse
  • Cglycine-gated chloride channel complex
  • Cglycinergic synapse
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Cpostsynaptic membrane
  • Cpostsynaptic specialization
  • Fexcitatory extracellular ligand-gated monoatomic ion channel activity
  • Fextracellularly glycine-gated chloride channel activity
  • Fextracellularly glycine-gated ion channel activity
  • Fglycine binding

497 aa · 56 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Inhibitory neurotransmissionUniProt · GOChloride transportUniProt · GOIon channel gatingGOLigand-gated signallingGO
View supporting evidence

Inhibitory neurotransmission

  • ·Subunit of heteromeric glycine-gated chloride channels (PubMed:11929858, PubMed:15302677…
  • ·GABA-ergic synapse
  • ·glycinergic synapse
  • ·synaptic transmission, glycinergic

Chloride transport

  • ·Subunit of heteromeric glycine-gated chloride channels (PubMed:11929858, PubMed:15302677…
  • ·glycine-gated chloride channel complex
  • ·extracellularly glycine-gated chloride channel activity

Ion channel gating

  • ·excitatory extracellular ligand-gated monoatomic ion channel activity
  • ·extracellularly glycine-gated ion channel activity
  • ·transmitter-gated monoatomic ion channel activity involved in regulation of postsynaptic…

Ligand-gated signalling

  • ·excitatory extracellular ligand-gated monoatomic ion channel activity
  • ·extracellularly glycine-gated ion channel activity
  • ·transmitter-gated monoatomic ion channel activity involved in regulation of postsynaptic…
View underlying pathways (1)

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.

GPHNGLRA3SLC6A5ARHGEF9GLRA1NBEAGLRA2AMPHGARS1SLC6A2GLRB

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

3

How approved and investigational drugs engage this protein — mechanism and action type, direct vs complex targeting, and how broadly each acts across other targets. A drug-first view (the section above groups the approved ones disease-first); direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

Isoflurane
ApprovedPositive modulator

Glycine receptor (alpha-1/beta) positive modulator

Acts on a complex — shared with GLRA1 · 1 of 23 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

Halothane
ApprovedPositive modulator

Glycine receptor (alpha-1/beta) positive modulator

Acts on a complex — shared with GLRA1 · 1 of 23 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

sevoflurane
ApprovedPositive modulator

Glycine receptor (alpha-1/beta) positive modulator

Acts on a complex — shared with GLRA1 · 1 of 23 recorded protein targets — broad pharmacology

ChEMBL mechanism, action type, target identity and approved indications. Open Targets clinical status.

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 GLRB

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene GLRBthat 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.

Hyperekplexia 2
0.94Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.75

Stiff-Person Syndrome
0.86Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.76

Placental retention
0.51Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.31

View evidence synthesis (3)
Hyperekplexia 2Well supported
0.94
agreement 0.811.00
Genetic83%Animal model18%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.75 · 2 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

Stiff-Person SyndromeWell supported
0.86
agreement 0.740.98
Genetic76%Animal model22%Literature3%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.76 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

Placental retentionModerately supported
0.51
agreement 0.390.63
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.31 · 1 independent evidence family

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
Stiff-Person Syndrome0.76
Hyperekplexia 20.75
Placental retention0.31

Drug development

6 compounds recorded · 6 approved

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 3 drugs that target this protein in Forefront's canonical graph: these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (6)
ENFLURANEApproval
ISOFLURANEApproval
METHOXYFLURANEApproval
HALOTHANEApproval
SEVOFLURANEApproval
DESFLURANEApproval

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 moleculesStrong

Approved Drug and Structure with Ligand support this modality.

AntibodiesEmerging

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

Protein degradersEmerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (10)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

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. Ranked by active status, then clinical phase and recency, and spread across the targeting drugs.

View all trials (26)

NOT_YET_RECRUITING · via sevoflurane · NCT07035782

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

3

Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 3 drugs that target this protein, plus publications where such a drug is a genuine subject. Every item is reached indirectly through the drug, not the protein itself; incidental mentions (a paper that merely measures a drug) and press items are excluded.

  1. New publication2025-02-08
    Neonatal sevoflurane exposures inhibits DHHC5-mediated palmitoylation of TfR1 in oligodendrocytes, leading to hypomyelination and neurological impairments.

    Journal of advanced research · 2025 · 9 citations · Europe PMC · via sevoflurane

  2. New publication2003-02-01
    Early exposure to common anesthetic agents causes widespread neurodegeneration in the developing rat brain and persistent learning deficits.

    The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2003 · 1,387 citations · Europe PMC · via Isoflurane

  3. New publication1995-01-01
    Sharp wave-associated high-frequency oscillation (200 Hz) in the intact hippocampus: network and intracellular mechanisms.

    The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 1995 · 798 citations · Europe PMC · via Halothane

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.

Related family literature

1

Papers about “Receptors, Glycine” — a broader family this protein belongs to. Shown as context; not counted as papers specifically about this protein.

Excitatory glycine receptors control ventral hippocampus synaptic plasticity and anxiety-related behaviors.

Pizzamiglio L · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025

via Receptors, Glycine

Europe PMC literature, reached through curated HGNC family membership. Membership is a taxonomic relationship — it does not imply this protein participates in every mechanism these papers discuss.