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Protein / target

NT-3 growth factor receptor

Encoded byNTRK3Q16288Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
6
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase

Strongest disease association

Ovarian neoplasm

Via encoding gene NTRK3 · Genetic evidence · score 0.60

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

Receptor tyrosine kinase involved in nervous system and probably heart development.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Receptor tyrosine kinase involved in nervous system and probably heart development. Upon binding of its ligand NTF3/neurotrophin-3, NTRK3 autophosphorylates and activates different signaling pathways, including the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT and the MAPK pathways, that control cell survival and differentiation

Subcellular location

Membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (39)

Domains & features

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

Gene Ontology

  • Caxon
  • Ccytoplasm
  • Cglutamatergic synapse
  • Cnucleolus
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Cpostsynaptic membrane
  • Creceptor complex
  • FATP binding
  • FGPI-linked ephrin receptor activity
  • Fneurotrophin binding
  • Fneurotrophin receptor activity
  • Fp53 binding

839 aa · 94 kDa · 5 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 · ReactomeReceptor tyrosine kinase signallingUniProt · GOSynaptic signallingGOCell migrationGOOncogenic signallingReactome
View supporting evidence

Cell proliferation & survival

  • ·Receptor tyrosine kinase involved in nervous system and probably heart development. Upon…
  • ·positive regulation of cell population proliferation
  • ·PIP3 activates AKT signaling
  • ·PI5P, PP2A and IER3 Regulate PI3K/AKT Signaling

Receptor tyrosine kinase signalling

  • ·Receptor tyrosine kinase involved in nervous system and probably heart development. Upon…
  • ·transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase activity
  • ·cell surface receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway

Synaptic signalling

  • ·glutamatergic synapse
  • ·postsynaptic membrane
  • ·postsynaptic density assembly
  • ·regulation of presynapse assembly

Cell migration

  • ·positive regulation of cell migration
  • ·positive regulation of positive chemotaxis

Oncogenic signalling

  • ·Constitutive Signaling by Aberrant PI3K in Cancer
View underlying pathways (10)

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.

NTF4BDNFPTPRSNTF3NGFSHC1GDNFETV6NTRK2NGFRNTRK3

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 · 2 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.

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung1 medicine

6 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.

repotrectinib
ApprovedInhibitor

NT-3 growth factor receptor inhibitor

Indicated for Neoplasms

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 6 recorded protein targets

larotrectinib
ApprovedInhibitor

Neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitor

Indicated for Neoplasms

Acts on a complex — shared with NTRK1, NTRK2 · 1 of 3 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

entrectinib
ApprovedInhibitor

Neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitor

Indicated for Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Neoplasms

Acts on a complex — shared with NTRK1, NTRK2 · 1 of 5 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 NTRK3

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene NTRK3that 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.

Neoplasms
0.89Well supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.65

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
0.81Well supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.65

Ovarian neoplasm
0.68Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.41

Thyroid gland papillary carcinoma
0.49Limited support

Somatic mutation evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.40

Congenital fibrosarcoma
0.48Limited support

Somatic mutation evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.40

View evidence synthesis (5)
NeoplasmsWell supported
0.89
agreement 0.810.98
Clinical41%Somatic mutation18%Pathway18%Genetic15%Literature8%

Open Targets aggregate 0.65 · 5 independent evidence families

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell LungWell supported
0.81
agreement 0.690.93
Clinical67%Somatic mutation28%Literature5%

Open Targets aggregate 0.65 · 3 independent evidence families

Ovarian neoplasmModerately supported
0.68
agreement 0.570.78
Genetic75%Somatic mutation25%

Open Targets aggregate 0.41 · 2 independent evidence families

Thyroid gland papillary carcinomaLimited support
0.49
agreement 0.380.60
Somatic mutation72%Clinical22%Literature6%RNA expression1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.40 · 4 independent evidence families

Congenital fibrosarcomaLimited support
0.48
agreement 0.360.60
Somatic mutation72%Clinical20%Literature8%

Open Targets aggregate 0.40 · 3 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
Neoplasms0.65
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung0.65
Neurodegenerative Diseases0.48
Ovarian neoplasm0.41
Thyroid gland papillary carcinoma0.40
Congenital fibrosarcoma0.40
Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal0.38
Congenital mesoblastic nephroma0.38

Drug development

13 compounds recorded · 6 approved · 7 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)
ENTRECTINIBApproval
TALETRECTINIBPhase 3
PLX-7486Phase 1
LAROTRECTINIBApproval
LAROTRECTINIB SULFATEApproval
REPOTRECTINIBApproval
SELITRECTINIBPhase 1
CEP-2563Phase 1
AZD-6918Phase 1
ALTIRATINIBPhase 1

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 sigp or tmhmm) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Protein degradersEmerging

Feasibility evidence (literature and half-life data) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Other modalitiesStrong

Approved Drug support this modality.

View underlying tractability evidence (10)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · LiteraturePR · Half-life DataPR · Small Molecule BinderOC · Approved Drug

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)

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via entrectinib · NCT03994796

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via larotrectinib · NCT02465060

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

4

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 approval2025-01-13

    Approval: Augtyro (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via repotrectinib

  2. New publication2024-01-01
    Repotrectinib in <i>ROS1</i> Fusion-Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2024 · 168 citations · Europe PMC · via repotrectinib

  3. Regulatory approval2020-07-31

    Approval: Rozlytrek (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via entrectinib

  4. New publication2018-02-01
    Efficacy of Larotrectinib in TRK Fusion-Positive Cancers in Adults and Children.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2018 · 1,987 citations · Europe PMC · via larotrectinib

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.