Protein / target
Interleukin-31 receptor subunit alpha
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Transcription coactivator
Strongest disease association
Familial primary localized cutaneous amyloidosis
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
Functions as a membrane-bound signal-transducing subunit of the IL31 receptor complex (heterodimer composed of OSMR and IL31RA) which binds IL31.
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Functions as a membrane-bound signal-transducing subunit of the IL31 receptor complex (heterodimer composed of OSMR and IL31RA) which binds IL31 (PubMed:15184896, PubMed:15194700, PubMed:15627637). Functionally, IL31 signaling via OSMR/IL31RA is particularly important in skin immunity (PubMed:15184896). Mechanistically, ligand binding induces heterodimerization with OSMR, activating JAK1 and JAK2 (and to a lesser extent TYK2) associated with the intracellular domains of IL31RA and OSMR (PubMed:15194700, PubMed:15627637). These kinases phosphorylate tyrosine residues on IL31RA and OSMR, creating docking sites for STAT1, STAT3, and STAT5B, which are then phosphorylated and activated (Probable) (PubMed:11877449, PubMed:15194700, PubMed:15627637). In addition, the IL31 receptor complex activates the MAPK pathway (MAPK3/ERK1-MAPK1/ERK2) via recruitment of the adapter protein SHC1 (PubMed:15194700, PubMed:15627637). Mediates IL31-induced itch, probably in a manner dependent on cation channels TRPA1 and TRPV1 (By similarity). Positively regulates numbers and cycling status of immature subsets of myeloid progenitor cells in bone marrow in vivo and enhances myeloid progenitor cell survival in vitro (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (29)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Caxon
- Cexternal side of plasma membrane
- Cmembrane
- Cplasma membrane
- Cpresynaptic membrane
- Creceptor complex
- Fcytokine binding
- Fcytokine receptor activity
- Fprotein kinase binding
- Ftranscription coactivator activity
- Pcell surface receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway
- Pcell surface receptor signaling pathway via JAK-STAT
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Cell proliferation & survival
- ·Functions as a membrane-bound signal-transducing subunit of the IL31 receptor complex (h…
- ·positive regulation of cell population proliferation
Receptor tyrosine kinase signalling
- ·cell surface receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway
Immune signalling
- ·cytokine binding
- ·cytokine receptor activity
- ·cytokine-mediated signaling pathway
- ·IL-6-type cytokine receptor ligand interactions
Transcriptional regulation
- ·transcription coactivator activity
- ·positive regulation of DNA-templated transcription
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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.
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.
Interleukin-31 receptor subunit alpha inhibitor
Indicated for Eczema
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 IL31RA
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene IL31RAthat 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.
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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.
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Drug development
1 compounds recorded · 1 approved
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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
Antibodies — Strong
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Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.
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.
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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 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.
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Nemluvio (EMA)
- New publicationPhase 3 Trial of Nemolizumab in Patients with Prurigo Nodularis.
- New publicationAnti-Interleukin-31 Receptor A Antibody for Atopic Dermatitis.
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.