Protein / target
Carbonic anhydrase 2
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Carbonate dehydratase
Strongest disease association
Osteopetrosis with renal tubular acidosis
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
Catalyzes the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide.
View complete UniProt function annotationHide complete annotation
Catalyzes the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide (PubMed:11327835, PubMed:11802772, PubMed:11831900, PubMed:12056894, PubMed:12171926, PubMed:1336460, PubMed:14736236, PubMed:15300855, PubMed:15453828, PubMed:15667203, PubMed:15865431, PubMed:16106378, PubMed:16214338, PubMed:16290146, PubMed:16686544, PubMed:16759856, PubMed:16807956, PubMed:17127057, PubMed:17251017, PubMed:17314045, PubMed:17330962, PubMed:17346964, PubMed:17540563, PubMed:17588751, PubMed:17705204, PubMed:18024029, PubMed:18162396, PubMed:18266323, PubMed:18374572, PubMed:18481843, PubMed:18618712, PubMed:18640037, PubMed:18942852, PubMed:1909891, PubMed:1910042, PubMed:19170619, PubMed:19186056, PubMed:19206230, PubMed:19520834, PubMed:19778001, PubMed:7761440, PubMed:7901850, PubMed:8218160, PubMed:8262987, PubMed:8399159, PubMed:8451242, PubMed:8485129, PubMed:8639494, PubMed:9265618, PubMed:9398308). Can also hydrate cyanamide to urea (PubMed:10550681, PubMed:11015219). Stimulates the chloride-bicarbonate exchange activity of SLC26A6 (PubMed:15990874). Essential for bone resorption and osteoclast differentiation (PubMed:15300855). Involved in the regulation of fluid secretion into the anterior chamber of the eye. Contributes to intracellular pH regulation in the duodenal upper villous epithelium during proton-coupled peptide absorption
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (15)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Capical part of cell
- Ccytoplasm
- Ccytosol
- Cextracellular exosome
- Cplasma membrane
- Farylesterase activity
- Fcarbonate dehydratase activity
- Fcyanamide hydratase activity
- Fzinc ion binding
- Pangiotensin-activated signaling pathway
- Pcarbon dioxide transport
- Ppositive regulation of dipeptide transmembrane transport
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
View underlying pathways (4)Hide underlying pathways
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.
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
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.
Carbonic anhydrase II inhibitor
Indicated for Glaucoma, Glaucoma, Open-Angle, Ocular Hypertension
Carbonic anhydrase II inhibitor
Indicated for Altitude Sickness, Edema, Epilepsy, Glaucoma
Carbonic anhydrase II inhibitor
Indicated for Epilepsy, Migraine Disorders, Seizures
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 CA2
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene CA2 that 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.
View evidence synthesis (5)Hide
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 associationsHide all associations
Drug development
11 compounds recorded · 11 approved
View all recorded compounds (10)Hide
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 molecules — Strong
Antibodies — Emerging
Protein degraders — Emerging
View underlying tractability evidence (10)Hide
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.
View all trials (26)Hide
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 2 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.
- Regulatory approval
Approval: TOPIRAMATE (ANDA219183)
- Product recall
Recall (Class III): TOPIRAMATE
- Regulatory approval
Approval: TOPIRAMATE (ANDA220943)
- Label change
Label change: ACETAZOLAMIDE (ANDA040904)
- Product recall
Recall (Class III): TOPIRAMATE
- Supplemental approval
Supplemental approval: PHENTERMINE AND TOPIRAMATE (NDA022580)
- Safety communication
Drug Safety Update: Topiramate (Topamax): introduction of new safety measures, including a Pregnancy Prevention Programme
- New publicationTreatment with GLP-1 receptor agonists is associated with significant weight loss and favorable headache outcomes in idiopathic intracranial hypertension.
- New publicationAcetazolamide in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure with Volume Overload.
- Safety communication
Drug Safety Update: Topiramate (Topamax): start of safety review triggered by a study reporting an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disabilities in children with prenatal exposure
- New publicationEffect of acetazolamide on visual function in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension and mild visual loss: the idiopathic intracranial hypertension treatment trial.
- New publicationA double-blind, randomized trial of topiramate in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Topiramate YL Study Group.
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.
Related family literature
Papers about “Carbonic Anhydrases” — a broader family this protein belongs to. Shown as context; not counted as papers specifically about this protein.
Europe PMC literature, reached through curated HGNC family membership. Membership is a taxonomic relationship — it does not imply this protein participates in every mechanism these papers discuss.