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Protein / target

Prostaglandin E2 receptor EP4 subtype

Encoded byPTGER4P35408Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Prostaglandin E receptor

Strongest disease association

Gastric carcinoma

Via encoding gene PTGER4 · Genetic evidence · score 0.69

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

Research activity

Emerging research

1 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

Receptor for prostaglandin E2 (PGE2).

View complete UniProt function annotation

Receptor for prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). The activity of this receptor is mediated by G(s) proteins that stimulate adenylate cyclase. Has a relaxing effect on smooth muscle. May play an important role in regulating renal hemodynamics, intestinal epithelial transport, adrenal aldosterone secretion, and uterine function

Subcellular location

Cell membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (24)

Gene Ontology

  • Cmembrane
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Fprostaglandin E receptor activity
  • Padenylate cyclase-activating G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
  • Padenylate cyclase-inhibiting G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
  • Padenylate cyclase-modulating G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
  • Pbone development
  • Pcellular response to mechanical stimulus
  • Pcellular response to prostaglandin E stimulus
  • PERK1 and ERK2 cascade
  • Pimmune response
  • Pinflammatory response

488 aa · 53 kDa

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Immune signallingGOG protein-coupled signallingGO
View supporting evidence

Immune signalling

  • ·immune response
  • ·inflammatory response
  • ·negative regulation of cytokine production
  • ·negative regulation of inflammatory response

G protein-coupled signalling

  • ·adenylate cyclase-activating G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
  • ·adenylate cyclase-inhibiting G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
  • ·adenylate cyclase-modulating G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
View underlying pathways (2)

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.

GNASPTGER1PTGER2GNAI3GNAI1GNAI2PTGS2ARRB1PTGESGNB1PTGER4

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

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.

Dinoprostone
ApprovedAgonist

Prostaglandin E2 receptor agonist

Acts on a complex — shared with PTGER2, PTGER1, PTGER3 · 1 of 4 recorded protein targets

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 PTGER4

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene PTGER4that 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.

Gastric carcinoma
0.69Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.42

Crohn's Disease
0.67Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.41

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
0.63Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.38

Colitis, Ulcerative
0.63Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

Colorectal Neoplasms
0.62Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

View evidence synthesis (5)
Gastric carcinomaModerately supported
0.69
agreement 0.550.83
Genetic98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.42 · 2 independent evidence families

Crohn's DiseaseModerately supported
0.67
agreement 0.530.81
Genetic96%Literature4%

Open Targets aggregate 0.41 · 2 independent evidence families

Inflammatory Bowel DiseasesModerately supported
0.63
agreement 0.490.77
Genetic91%Literature10%

Open Targets aggregate 0.38 · 2 independent evidence families

Colitis, UlcerativeModerately supported
0.63
agreement 0.520.73
Genetic85%Clinical13%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 3 independent evidence families

Colorectal NeoplasmsModerately supported
0.62
agreement 0.520.73
Genetic79%Clinical16%Literature5%RNA expression0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 4 independent evidence families

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
Gastric carcinoma0.42
Crohn's Disease0.41
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases0.38
Colitis, Ulcerative0.37
Colorectal Neoplasms0.37
Rhinitis, Allergic0.36
Neurodegenerative Diseases0.35
Autoimmune Diseases0.35
Psoriasis0.35

Drug development

4 compounds recorded · 1 approved · 3 in clinical development

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 1 drug that targets this protein in Forefront's canonical graph: these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (4)
GRAPIPRANTPhase 2
VORBIPIPRANTPhase 2
DINOPROSTONEApproval
RIVENPROSTPhase 2

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 (go cc high conf and uniprot loc med 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 (9)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · 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)

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

7

Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for a drug that targets 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 publication2024-11-01
    Prostaglandin E<sub>2</sub>-EP2/EP4 signaling induces immunosuppression in human cancer by impairing bioenergetics and ribosome biogenesis in immune cells.

    Nature communications · 2024 · 41 citations · Europe PMC · via Dinoprostone

  2. New publication2024-01-01
    The antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine inhibits cytokine and prostaglandin release in human fetal membranes stimulated ex vivo with lipoteichoic acid or live group B streptococcus.

    American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2024 · 1 citation · Europe PMC · via Dinoprostone

  3. New publication2023-09-28
    Pro-tumor Tfh2 cells induce detrimental IgG4 production and PGE<sub>2</sub>-dependent IgE inhibition in pancreatic cancer.

    EBioMedicine · 2023 · 10 citations · Europe PMC · via Dinoprostone

  4. New publication2023-08-29
    Primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy: genetics, clinical features and management.

    Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023 · 19 citations · Europe PMC · via Dinoprostone

  5. New publication2023-06-19
    Update on the pathological roles of prostaglandin E<sub>2</sub> in neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

    Translational neurodegeneration · 2023 · 19 citations · Europe PMC · via Dinoprostone

  6. New publication2020-12-07
    Tipping the immunostimulatory and inhibitory DAMP balance to harness immunogenic cell death.

    Nature communications · 2020 · 205 citations · Europe PMC · via Dinoprostone

  7. New publication1996-06-01
    T cell interleukin-17 induces stromal cells to produce proinflammatory and hematopoietic cytokines.

    The Journal of experimental medicine · 1996 · 1,089 citations · Europe PMC · via Dinoprostone

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.

Research activity

1 papers · to 2024

Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.

Most cited

Recent

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.

Related family literature

1

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

Prostaglandins and inflammation.

Ricciotti E · Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology · 2011

via Receptors, Prostaglandin

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.