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Protein / target

Interleukin-31 receptor subunit alpha

Encoded byIL31RAQ8NI17Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
22
Clinical trials
Antibody-tractable
Druggability
Advanced Clinical

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Transcription coactivator

Strongest disease association

Familial primary localized cutaneous amyloidosis

Via encoding gene IL31RA · Genetic evidence · score 0.62

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

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

Functions as a membrane-bound signal-transducing subunit of the IL31 receptor complex (heterodimer composed of OSMR and IL31RA) which binds IL31.

View complete UniProt function annotation

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

Cell membranePresynaptic cell membraneCell projection, axon
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (29)

Domains & features

Fibronectin type-III 1Fibronectin type-III 2Fibronectin type-III 3Fibronectin type-III 4Fibronectin type-III 5

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

732 aa · 83 kDa · 12 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Cell proliferation & survivalUniProt · GOReceptor tyrosine kinase signallingGOImmune signallingGO · ReactomeTranscriptional regulationGO
View supporting evidence

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
View underlying pathways (1)

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.

IL31OSMRJAK1OSMDDX4EFTUD2PRPF6CDC5LHSD17B…GTPBP4IL31RA

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 · 1 area

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.

Eczema1 medicine

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.

nemolizumab
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Interleukin-31 receptor subunit alpha inhibitor

Indicated for Eczema

Direct interaction with this protein · Only this protein recorded as a target

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 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.

Dermatitis, Atopic
0.66Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.54

Familial primary localized cutaneous amyloidosis
0.63Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.54

Prurigo nodularis
0.61Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.49

Placental retention
0.46Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.28

Rheumatic Diseases
0.27Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.16

View evidence synthesis (5)
Dermatitis, AtopicModerately supported
0.66
agreement 0.510.82
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.54 · 2 independent evidence families

Familial primary localized cutaneous amyloidosisModerately supported
0.63
agreement 0.490.77
Genetic100%Literature0%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.54 · 2 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

Prurigo nodularisModerately supported
0.61
agreement 0.460.77
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.49 · 2 independent evidence families

Placental retentionLimited support
0.46
agreement 0.340.58
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.28 · 1 independent evidence family

Rheumatic DiseasesLimited support
0.27
agreement 0.130.41
Genetic99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.16 · 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
Familial primary localized cutaneous amyloidosis0.54
Dermatitis, Atopic0.54
Prurigo nodularis0.49
Placental retention0.28
Rheumatic Diseases0.16
Palindromic rheumatism0.16
Scleroderma, Systemic0.11

Drug development

1 compounds recorded · 1 approved

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 (1)
NEMOLIZUMABApproval

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

AntibodiesStrong

Advanced Clinical and UniProt loc high conf support this modality.

View underlying tractability evidence (6)
AB · Advanced ClinicalAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · Human Protein Atlas loc

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Clinical trials

22

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 (18)

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

3

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. Regulatory approval2025-02-12

    Approval: Nemluvio (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via nemolizumab

  2. New publication2023-10-01
    Phase 3 Trial of Nemolizumab in Patients with Prurigo Nodularis.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2023 · 111 citations · Europe PMC · via nemolizumab

  3. New publication2017-03-01
    Anti-Interleukin-31 Receptor A Antibody for Atopic Dermatitis.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2017 · 375 citations · Europe PMC · via nemolizumab

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.