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Protein / target

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3

Encoded byFGFR3P22607Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
11
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Fibroblast growth factor receptor

Primary biology

FGFR growth-factor signalling

Strongest disease association

Thanatophoric dysplasia type 1

Via encoding gene FGFR3 · Genetic evidence · score 0.90

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules and antibodies

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

Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for fibroblast growth factors and plays an essential role in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for fibroblast growth factors and plays an essential role in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Plays an essential role in the regulation of chondrocyte differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis, and is required for normal skeleton development. Regulates both osteogenesis and postnatal bone mineralization by osteoblasts. Promotes apoptosis in chondrocytes, but can also promote cancer cell proliferation. Required for normal development of the inner ear. Phosphorylates PLCG1, CBL and FRS2. Ligand binding leads to the activation of several signaling cascades. Activation of PLCG1 leads to the production of the cellular signaling molecules diacylglycerol and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. Phosphorylation of FRS2 triggers recruitment of GRB2, GAB1, PIK3R1 and SOS1, and mediates activation of RAS, MAPK1/ERK2, MAPK3/ERK1 and the MAP kinase signaling pathway, as well as of the AKT1 signaling pathway. Plays a role in the regulation of vitamin D metabolism. Mutations that lead to constitutive kinase activation or impair normal FGFR3 maturation, internalization and degradation lead to aberrant signaling. Over-expressed or constitutively activated FGFR3 promotes activation of PTPN11/SHP2, STAT1, STAT5A and STAT5B. Secreted isoform 3 retains its capacity to bind FGF1 and FGF2 and hence may interfere with FGF signaling

Subcellular location

Cell membraneCytoplasmic vesicleEndoplasmic reticulumSecreted
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (34)

Domains & features

Ig-like C2-type 1Ig-like C2-type 2Ig-like C2-type 3Protein kinase

Gene Ontology

  • Cendoplasmic reticulum
  • Cextracellular region
  • CGolgi apparatus
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Creceptor complex
  • Ctransport vesicle
  • FATP binding
  • Ffibroblast growth factor binding
  • Ffibroblast growth factor receptor activity
  • Fidentical protein binding
  • Fprotein tyrosine kinase activity
  • Pbone maturation

806 aa · 88 kDa · 4 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Cell proliferation & survivalUniProt · GO · ReactomeGrowth-factor signallingUniProt · GOOncogenic signallingReactomeKinase signallingUniProt · GO
View supporting evidence

Cell proliferation & survival

  • ·Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for fibroblast growth facto…
  • ·positive regulation of cell population proliferation
  • ·PIP3 activates AKT signaling
  • ·PI5P, PP2A and IER3 Regulate PI3K/AKT Signaling

Growth-factor signalling

  • ·Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for fibroblast growth facto…
  • ·fibroblast growth factor binding
  • ·fibroblast growth factor receptor activity
  • ·fibroblast growth factor receptor apoptotic signaling pathway

Oncogenic signalling

  • ·Constitutive Signaling by Aberrant PI3K in Cancer
  • ·Signaling by FGFR3 fusions in cancer

Kinase signalling

  • ·Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for fibroblast growth facto…
  • ·protein tyrosine kinase activity
  • ·positive regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B signal transduction
View underlying pathways (16)

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.

FGF8FGF9FGF2FGF1FGF18FGF13FGFR2FGF17GRB2HRASFGFR3

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.

Approved medicines with mapped indications

3 medicines · 4 areas

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.

Cholangiocarcinoma2 medicines
Carcinoma, Transitional Cell1 medicine
Urinary Bladder Neoplasms1 medicine
Broader indication categories (1)

Broad umbrella indications (e.g. “Neoplasms”). Shown here because every medicine also appears under a more specific disease above — kept for completeness, de-emphasised for clarity.

11 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 3 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

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.

pemigatinib
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 inhibitor

Indicated for Cholangiocarcinoma, Neoplasms

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 3 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

erdafitinib
ApprovedInhibitor

Fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitor

Indicated for Carcinoma, Transitional Cell, Urinary Bladder Neoplasms, Neoplasms

Acts on a complex — shared with FGFR1, FGFR4, FGFR2 · 1 of 4 recorded protein targets

futibatinib
ApprovedInhibitor

Fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitor

Indicated for Cholangiocarcinoma, Neoplasms

Acts on a complex — shared with FGFR1, FGFR4, FGFR2 · 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 FGFR3

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene FGFR3that 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.

Urinary bladder carcinoma
0.98Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.80

Urinary Bladder Neoplasms
0.96Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.79

Achondroplasia
0.96Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.82

Hypochondroplasia
0.93Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.80

Thanatophoric dysplasia type 1
0.93Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.82

View evidence synthesis (5)
Urinary bladder carcinomaWell supported
0.98
agreement 0.891.00
Genetic38%Somatic mutation22%Clinical22%Pathway12%Literature6%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.80 · 5 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

Urinary Bladder NeoplasmsWell supported
0.96
agreement 0.871.00
Genetic42%Somatic mutation30%Clinical21%Literature7%

Open Targets aggregate 0.79 · 4 independent evidence families

AchondroplasiaWell supported
0.96
agreement 0.861.00
Genetic55%Clinical26%Animal model15%Literature5%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.82 · 4 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

HypochondroplasiaWell supported
0.93
agreement 0.831.00
Genetic60%Animal model19%Clinical17%Literature4%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.80 · 4 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

Thanatophoric dysplasia type 1Well supported
0.93
agreement 0.811.00
Genetic77%Animal model20%Literature2%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.82 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

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
Achondroplasia0.82
Thanatophoric dysplasia type 10.82
Severe achondroplasia - developmental delay - acanthosis nigricans0.81
Urinary bladder carcinoma0.80
Hypochondroplasia0.80
Muenke syndrome0.80
Urinary Bladder Neoplasms0.79
Thanatophoric dysplasia type 20.79
Crouzon syndrome-acanthosis nigricans syndrome0.78
Camptodactyly-tall stature-scoliosis-hearing loss syndrome0.77

Drug development

25 compounds recorded · 11 approved · 14 in clinical development

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 (3 with a mapped approved indication, shown above): these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (10)
FEXAGRATINIBPhase 2
NINTEDANIB ESYLATEApproval
HMPL-453Phase 2
PAZOPANIBApproval
XL-999Phase 2
INFIGRATINIB PHOSPHATEApproval
E-7090Approval
FGFR INHIBITOR DEBIO 1347Phase 2
ENMD-2076Phase 2
ORANTINIBPhase 3

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.

AntibodiesSupported

Phase 1 Clinical and GO CC high conf support this modality.

Protein degradersEmerging

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

Other modalitiesStrong

Advanced Clinical support this modality.

View underlying tractability evidence (12)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · Phase 1 ClinicalAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · UniProt UbiquitinationPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule BinderOC · Advanced Clinical

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

regulation of catalytic activityToxCast

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

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)

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via erdafitinib · NCT03155620

RECRUITING · via futibatinib · NCT02693535

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via erdafitinib · NCT02465060

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

5

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. Regulatory approval2024-08-22

    Approval: Balversa (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via erdafitinib

  2. Regulatory approval2023-07-04

    Approval: Lytgobi (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via futibatinib

  3. New publication2023-01-01
    Futibatinib for <i>FGFR2</i>-Rearranged Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2023 · 420 citations · Europe PMC · via futibatinib

  4. Regulatory approval2021-03-26

    Approval: Pemazyre (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via pemigatinib

  5. New publication2019-07-01
    Erdafitinib in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2019 · 1,006 citations · Europe PMC · via erdafitinib

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.