Protein / target
Insulin receptor
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Insulin-like growth factor receptor binding
Primary biology
Insulin / IGF signalling
Strongest disease association
Leprechaunism
Therapeutic position
Established drug target
Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.
Protein profile
Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.
Function overview
Receptor tyrosine kinase which mediates the pleiotropic actions of insulin.
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Receptor tyrosine kinase which mediates the pleiotropic actions of insulin. Binding of insulin leads to phosphorylation of several intracellular substrates, including, insulin receptor substrates (IRS1, 2, 3, 4), SHC, GAB1, CBL and other signaling intermediates. Each of these phosphorylated proteins serve as docking proteins for other signaling proteins that contain Src-homology-2 domains (SH2 domain) that specifically recognize different phosphotyrosine residues, including the p85 regulatory subunit of PI3K and SHP2. Phosphorylation of IRSs proteins lead to the activation of two main signaling pathways: the PI3K-AKT/PKB pathway, which is responsible for most of the metabolic actions of insulin, and the Ras-MAPK pathway, which regulates expression of some genes and cooperates with the PI3K pathway to control cell growth and differentiation. Binding of the SH2 domains of PI3K to phosphotyrosines on IRS1 leads to the activation of PI3K and the generation of phosphatidylinositol-(3, 4, 5)-triphosphate (PIP3), a lipid second messenger, which activates several PIP3-dependent serine/threonine kinases, such as PDPK1 and subsequently AKT/PKB. The net effect of this pathway is to produce a translocation of the glucose transporter SLC2A4/GLUT4 from cytoplasmic vesicles to the cell membrane to facilitate glucose transport. Moreover, upon insulin stimulation, activated AKT/PKB is responsible for: anti-apoptotic effect of insulin by inducing phosphorylation of BAD; regulates the expression of gluconeogenic and lipogenic enzymes by controlling the activity of the winged helix or forkhead (FOX) class of transcription factors. Another pathway regulated by PI3K-AKT/PKB activation is mTORC1 signaling pathway which regulates cell growth and metabolism and integrates signals from insulin. AKT mediates insulin-stimulated protein synthesis by phosphorylating TSC2 thereby activating mTORC1 pathway. The Ras/RAF/MAP2K/MAPK pathway is mainly involved in mediating cell growth, survival and cellular differentiation of insulin. Phosphorylated IRS1 recruits GRB2/SOS complex, which triggers the activation of the Ras/RAF/MAP2K/MAPK pathway. In addition to binding insulin, the insulin receptor can bind insulin-like growth factors (IGFI and IGFII). Isoform Short has a higher affinity for IGFII binding. When present in a hybrid receptor with IGF1R, binds IGF1. PubMed:12138094 shows that hybrid receptors composed of IGF1R and INSR isoform Long are activated with a high affinity by IGF1, with low affinity by IGF2 and not significantly activated by insulin, and that hybrid receptors composed of IGF1R and INSR isoform Short are activated by IGF1, IGF2 and insulin. In contrast, PubMed:16831875 shows that hybrid receptors composed of IGF1R and INSR isoform Long and hybrid receptors composed of IGF1R and INSR isoform Short have similar binding characteristics, both bind IGF1 and have a low affinity for insulin. In adipocytes, inhibits lipolysis (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (69)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Caxon
- Ccaveola
- Cdendrite membrane
- Cendosome membrane
- Cexternal side of plasma membrane
- Cextracellular exosome
- Cinsulin receptor complex
- Clate endosome
- Clysosome
- Cmembrane
- Cneuronal cell body membrane
- Cplasma membrane
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Growth-factor signalling
- ·Receptor tyrosine kinase which mediates the pleiotropic actions of insulin. Binding of i…
- ·insulin-like growth factor I binding
- ·insulin-like growth factor II binding
- ·insulin-like growth factor receptor binding
Cell proliferation & survival
- ·positive regulation of cell population proliferation
- ·PI5P, PP2A and IER3 Regulate PI3K/AKT Signaling
Receptor tyrosine kinase signalling
- ·Receptor tyrosine kinase which mediates the pleiotropic actions of insulin. Binding of i…
Cell migration
- ·positive regulation of cell migration
Transcriptional regulation
- ·Receptor tyrosine kinase which mediates the pleiotropic actions of insulin. Binding of i…
- ·positive regulation of DNA-templated transcription
- ·regulation of DNA-templated transcription
View underlying pathways (6)Hide underlying pathways
Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.
Interaction neighbourhood
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.
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.
Approved medicines with mapped indications
Approved therapies targeting this protein, grouped by what they are approved to treat — the disease-first view of the medicines below. Relationships come from the canonical approved-indication graph (ChEMBL phase-4), the same source as the drug cards.
15 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 7 shown here are those on this page with a canonical approved disease indication in the graph. Approved indications from ChEMBL (phase-4), via the canonical drug→disease graph.
Drugs targeting this protein
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.
Insulin receptor agonist
Indicated for Diabetes Mellitus
Insulin receptor agonist
Indicated for Diabetes Mellitus
Insulin receptor agonist
Indicated for Diabetes Mellitus, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
Insulin receptor agonist
Indicated for Diabetes Mellitus, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
Insulin receptor agonist
Indicated for Diabetes Mellitus
Insulin receptor agonist
Indicated for Diabetes Mellitus, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
View all 7 targeting drugsHide
Insulin receptor agonist
Indicated for Diabetes Mellitus, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
ChEMBL mechanism, action type, target identity and approved indications. Open Targets clinical status.
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 INSR
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene INSRthat 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.
View evidence synthesis (5)Hide
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
23 compounds recorded · 15 approved · 8 in clinical development
View all recorded compounds (10)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 — Strong
Antibodies — Emerging
Protein degraders — Emerging
Other modalities — Strong
View underlying tractability evidence (14)Hide
Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.
Safety-related annotations
Terms indexed against this target in Open Targets' safety data, with their datasource. These are annotations, not causal claims: the direction of effect (whether activation or inhibition is implicated), species and evidence strength are not captured here, so an entry does not mean that modulating this target is known to cause that condition.
Clinical trials
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)Hide
ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.
What's happening now
Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 6 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.
- Trial status changed
Role of NADPH Oxidase in Microvascular Dysfunction Following GDM
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Bysumlog (EMA)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Dazparda (EMA)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Ondibta (EMA)
- New publicationWhat comparative endocrinology tells us about the original function of the insulin superfamily.
- New publicationInsulin Resistance in Type 1 Diabetes: Pathophysiological, Clinical, and Therapeutic Relevance.
- New publicationGLP-1 and ghrelin inversely regulate insulin secretion and action in pancreatic islets, vagal afferents, and hypothalamus for controlling glycemia and feeding.
- New publicationThe effects of portfolio moderate-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets on anthropometric indices, metabolic status, and hormonal levels in overweight or obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.
- New publicationGLP-1 and GIP agonism has no direct actions in human hepatocytes or hepatic stellate cells.
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Awiqli (EMA)
- Safety communication
Drug Safety Update: Insulin degludec (Tresiba▼): available in additional higher strength
- Safety communication
Drug Safety Update: Insulin glargine: studies of possible cancer link
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 literature
Papers indexed under “Receptor, Insulin” — a subject heading that covers this protein without being specific to it. Shown as context; not counted as this protein's own research activity.
Europe PMC literature, reached through a MeSH descriptor linked to this protein.