Protein / target
Sodium-dependent serotonin transporter
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Neurotransmitter transmembrane transporter
Primary biology
Neuronal / synaptic signalling
Strongest disease association
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
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
Serotonin transporter that cotransports serotonin with one Na(+) ion in exchange for one K(+) ion and possibly one proton in an overall electroneutral transport cycle.
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Serotonin transporter that cotransports serotonin with one Na(+) ion in exchange for one K(+) ion and possibly one proton in an overall electroneutral transport cycle. Transports serotonin across the plasma membrane from the extracellular compartment to the cytosol thus limiting serotonin intercellular signaling (PubMed:10407194, PubMed:12869649, PubMed:21730057, PubMed:27049939, PubMed:27756841, PubMed:34851672). Essential for serotonin homeostasis in the central nervous system. In the developing somatosensory cortex, acts in glutamatergic neurons to control serotonin uptake and its trophic functions accounting for proper spatial organization of cortical neurons and elaboration of sensory circuits. In the mature cortex, acts primarily in brainstem raphe neurons to mediate serotonin uptake from the synaptic cleft back into the pre-synaptic terminal thus terminating serotonin signaling at the synapse (By similarity). Modulates mucosal serotonin levels in the gastrointestinal tract through uptake and clearance of serotonin in enterocytes. Required for enteric neurogenesis and gastrointestinal reflexes (By similarity). Regulates blood serotonin levels by ensuring rapid high affinity uptake of serotonin from plasma to platelets, where it is further stored in dense granules via vesicular monoamine transporters and then released upon stimulation (PubMed:17506858, PubMed:18317590). Mechanistically, the transport cycle starts with an outward-open conformation having Na1(+) and Cl(-) sites occupied. The binding of a second extracellular Na2(+) ion and serotonin substrate leads to structural changes to outward-occluded to inward-occluded to inward-open, where the Na2(+) ion and serotonin are released into the cytosol. Binding of intracellular K(+) ion induces conformational transitions to inward-occluded to outward-open and completes the cycle by releasing K(+) possibly together with a proton bound to Asp-98 into the extracellular compartment. Na1(+) and Cl(-) ions remain bound throughout the transport cycle (PubMed:10407194, PubMed:12869649, PubMed:21730057, PubMed:27049939, PubMed:27756841, PubMed:34851672). Additionally, displays serotonin-induced channel-like conductance for monovalent cations, mainly Na(+) ions. The channel activity is uncoupled from the transport cycle and may contribute to the membrane resting potential or excitability (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (54)Hide
Gene Ontology
- Cendomembrane system
- Cendosome membrane
- Cfocal adhesion
- CGolgi apparatus
- Cmembrane raft
- Cneuron projection
- Cplasma membrane
- Cpostsynaptic membrane
- Cpresynaptic membrane
- Cserotonergic synapse
- Csynapse
- Factin filament binding
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Ion channel gating
- ·monoatomic cation channel activity
- ·sodium ion transmembrane transport
Excitatory neurotransmission
- ·Serotonin transporter that cotransports serotonin with one Na(+) ion in exchange for one…
Haemostasis
- ·Serotonin transporter that cotransports serotonin with one Na(+) ion in exchange for one…
- ·platelet aggregation
View underlying pathways (2)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.
53 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
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.
Serotonin transporter inhibitor
Indicated for Anxiety Disorders, Chronic Pain, Diabetes Mellitus, Diabetic Neuropathies
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 SLC6A4
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene SLC6A4that 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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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
67 compounds recorded · 53 approved · 11 in clinical development · 3 earlier-stage
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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
Small molecules — Strong
Antibodies — Emerging
Protein degraders — Emerging
Other modalities — Strong
View underlying tractability evidence (9)Hide
Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.
Safety-related annotations
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
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 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.
- Label change
Label change: DULOXETINE (NDA219131)
- Product recall
Recall (Class II): DULOXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE
- Product recall
Recall (Class II): DULOXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE
- Regulatory approval
Approval: DULOXETINE (NDA219131)
- Product recall
Recall (Class II): DULOXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE
- Product recall
Recall (Class II): DULOXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE
- New publicationPrevention and management of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in survivors of adult cancers: American Society of Clinical Oncology clinical practice guideline.
- New publicationDuloxetine versus placebo in the treatment of patients with diabetic neuropathic pain in China.
- New publicationEfficacy and safety of duloxetine 60 mg and 120 mg daily in patients hospitalized for severe depression: a double-blind randomized trial.
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Yentreve (EMA)
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.