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Protein / target

Interleukin-11 receptor subunit alpha

Encoded byIL11RAQ14626Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
6
Clinical trials
Antibody-tractable
Druggability
UniProt loc high conf

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Transmembrane signaling receptor

Strongest disease association

Craniosynostoses

Via encoding gene IL11RA · Genetic literature evidence · score 0.61

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

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

Receptor for interleukin-11 (IL11).

View complete UniProt function annotation

Receptor for interleukin-11 (IL11). The receptor systems for IL6, LIF, OSM, CNTF, IL11 and CT1 can utilize IL6ST for initiating signal transmission. The IL11/IL11RA/IL6ST complex may be involved in the control of proliferation and/or differentiation of skeletogenic progenitor or other mesenchymal cells (Probable). Essential for the normal development of craniofacial bones and teeth. Restricts suture fusion and tooth number

Subcellular location

MembraneSecreted
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (16)

Domains & features

Ig-like C2-typeFibronectin type-III 1Fibronectin type-III 2

Gene Ontology

  • Cexternal side of plasma membrane
  • Cextracellular region
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Creceptor complex
  • Finterleukin-11 binding
  • Finterleukin-11 receptor activity
  • Ftransmembrane signaling receptor activity
  • Pcytokine-mediated signaling pathway
  • Pdevelopmental process
  • Pembryo implantation
  • Phead development
  • Pinterleukin-11-mediated signaling pathway

422 aa · 45 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

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

Cell proliferation & survivalGOImmune signallingUniProt · GO
View supporting evidence

Cell proliferation & survival

  • ·positive regulation of cell population proliferation

Immune signalling

  • ·Receptor for interleukin-11 (IL11). The receptor systems for IL6, LIF, OSM, CNTF, IL11 a…
  • ·interleukin-11 binding
  • ·interleukin-11 receptor activity
  • ·cytokine-mediated signaling pathway

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Approved medicines with mapped indications

1 medicine · 2 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.

Thrombocytopenia1 medicine
Broader indication categories (1)
Neoplasms1 medicine

Broad umbrella indications (e.g. “Neoplasms”). Shown here because every medicine also appears under a more specific disease above — kept for completeness, de-emphasised for clarity.

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.

oprelvekin
Narrow target profileApprovedAgonist

Interleukin 11 receptor alpha agonist

Indicated for Thrombocytopenia, Neoplasms

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 IL11RA

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene IL11RA 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.

Craniosynostoses
0.61Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.46

Neoplasms
0.52Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.40

Protozoan Infections
0.29Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.18

Autoimmune disorder of central nervous system
0.15Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.23 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

Glioblastoma
0.12Preliminary

Literature evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.09 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

View evidence synthesis (5)
CraniosynostosesModerately supported
0.61
agreement 0.470.75
Genetic93%Literature7%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.46 · 2 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

NeoplasmsModerately supported
0.52
agreement 0.370.68
Clinical78%Literature22%

Open Targets aggregate 0.40 · 2 independent evidence families

Protozoan InfectionsLimited support
0.29
agreement 0.170.41
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.18 · 1 independent evidence family

Autoimmune disorder of central nervous systemPreliminary
0.15
agreement 0.000.38
Pathway100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.23 · 1 independent evidence family · no direct causal or clinical evidence

GlioblastomaPreliminary
0.12
agreement 0.000.39
Literature100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.09 · 1 independent evidence family · no direct causal or clinical evidence

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
Craniosynostoses0.46
Neoplasms0.40
Autoimmune disorder of central nervous system0.23
Protozoan Infections0.18
Glioblastoma0.09

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)
OPRELVEKINApproval

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

AntibodiesEmerging

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

Other modalitiesStrong

Approved Drug support this modality.

View underlying tractability evidence (5)
AB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · Human Protein Atlas locOC · Approved Drug

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Clinical trials

6

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.

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.