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Protein / target

Matrilysin

Encoded byMMP7P09237Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
2
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Serine-type endopeptidase

Strongest disease association

Prostate carcinoma

Via encoding gene MMP7 · Genetic evidence · score 0.74

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

Research activity

Emerging research

1 papers · latest 2023

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

Degrades casein, gelatins of types I, III, IV, and V, and fibronectin.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Degrades casein, gelatins of types I, III, IV, and V, and fibronectin. Activates procollagenase

Subcellular location

Secreted, extracellular space, extracellular matrix
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (16)

Gene Ontology

  • Cextracellular exosome
  • Cextracellular matrix
  • Cextracellular region
  • Cextracellular space
  • Fendopeptidase activity
  • Fmetalloendopeptidase activity
  • Fmetallopeptidase activity
  • Fserine-type endopeptidase activity
  • Fzinc ion binding
  • Pcollagen catabolic process
  • Pextracellular matrix disassembly
  • Pextracellular matrix organization

267 aa · 30 kDa

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Cell migrationGOCell adhesionUniProt · GO · ReactomeProteolysisGO
View supporting evidence

Cell migration

  • ·positive regulation of cell migration

Cell adhesion

  • ·Secreted, extracellular space, extracellular matrix
  • ·extracellular matrix
  • ·extracellular matrix disassembly
  • ·extracellular matrix organization

Proteolysis

  • ·endopeptidase activity
  • ·metalloendopeptidase activity
  • ·metallopeptidase activity
  • ·serine-type endopeptidase activity
View underlying pathways (5)

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.

CD44MMP2TIMP2SPP1TIMP1TIMP3MMP9MMP1NID1MMP10MMP7

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

1 medicine · 10 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.

Acne Vulgaris1 medicine
Bacterial Infections1 medicine
Brucellosis1 medicine
Cholera1 medicine
Gonorrhea1 medicine
Infections1 medicine
Malaria1 medicine
Periodontitis1 medicine
Pneumonia1 medicine
Rosacea1 medicine

2 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 1 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

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.

Doxycycline
ApprovedInhibitor

Matrix metalloproteinase 7 inhibitor

Indicated for Acne Vulgaris, Bacterial Infections, Brucellosis, Cholera

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 59 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 MMP7

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene MMP7that 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.

Prostate carcinoma
0.77Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.48

Periodontitis
0.72Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.58

Rosacea
0.71Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.58

Prostatic Neoplasms
0.71Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.43

Infections
0.70Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.56

View evidence synthesis (5)
Prostate carcinomaWell supported
0.77
agreement 0.630.91
Genetic87%Literature13%

Open Targets aggregate 0.48 · 2 independent evidence families

PeriodontitisModerately supported
0.72
agreement 0.590.86
Clinical84%Literature14%RNA expression2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.58 · 3 independent evidence families

RosaceaModerately supported
0.71
agreement 0.560.87
Clinical98%RNA expression2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.58 · 2 independent evidence families

Prostatic NeoplasmsModerately supported
0.71
agreement 0.600.81
Genetic83%Literature14%Clinical3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.43 · 3 independent evidence families

InfectionsModerately supported
0.70
agreement 0.550.86
Clinical86%Literature14%

Open Targets aggregate 0.56 · 2 independent evidence families

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
Periodontitis0.58
Rosacea0.58
Infections0.56
Prostate carcinoma0.48
Pneumonia0.47
Prostatic Neoplasms0.43

Drug development

3 compounds recorded · 2 approved · 1 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 (1 with a mapped approved indication, shown above): these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (3)
DOXYCYCLINEApproval
DOXYCYCLINE HYCLATEApproval
MARIMASTATPhase 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.

AntibodiesEmerging

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

Protein degradersEmerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (8)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Small Molecule Binder

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 Doxycycline · NCT05296837

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via Doxycycline · NCT05382208

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via Doxycycline · NCT02713607

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via Doxycycline · NCT04108897

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

12

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. Label change2026-08-11

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA207289)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  2. Label change2026-06-12

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  3. Label change2025-06-24

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA207289)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  4. Label change2025-04-25

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  5. Label change2025-04-25

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  6. Label change2025-03-31

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA207757)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  7. New publication2024-01-30
    Guidelines of care for the management of acne vulgaris.

    Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · 2024 · 236 citations · Europe PMC · via Doxycycline

  8. Label change2023-07-25

    Label change: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA207289)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  9. New publication2020-05-01
    Effect of Doxycycline on Aneurysm Growth Among Patients With Small Infrarenal Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

    JAMA · 2020 · 114 citations · Europe PMC · via Doxycycline

  10. Regulatory approval2014-03-05

    Approval: DOXYCYCLINE (ANDA204234)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Doxycycline

  11. New publication2011-09-28
    A randomized controlled trial of subantimicrobial-dose doxycycline to prevent unscheduled bleeding with continuous oral contraceptive pill use.

    Contraception · 2012 · 9 citations · Europe PMC · via Doxycycline

  12. New publication2005-07-01
    Effects of doxycycline on progression of osteoarthritis: results of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.

    Arthritis and rheumatism · 2005 · 186 citations · Europe PMC · via Doxycycline

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 2023

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.