Back to discover

Protein / target

Transforming growth factor beta-3 proprotein

Encoded byTGFB3P10600Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Antibody-tractable
Druggability
Advanced Clinical

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Type III transforming growth factor beta receptor binding

Strongest disease association

Pulmonary Emphysema

Via encoding gene TGFB3 · Genetic literature evidence · score 0.61

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

Transforming growth factor beta-3 proprotein: Precursor of the Latency-associated peptide (LAP) and Transforming growth factor beta-3 (TGF-beta-3) chains, which constitute the regulatory and active subunit of TGF-beta-3, respectively

Subcellular location

Secreted, extracellular space, extracellular matrixSecreted
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (44)

Gene Ontology

  • Cextracellular matrix
  • Cextracellular region
  • Cextracellular space
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Cplatelet alpha granule lumen
  • Ctransforming growth factor beta complex
  • Fcytokine activity
  • Fgrowth factor activity
  • Fidentical protein binding
  • Ftransforming growth factor beta binding
  • Ftype I transforming growth factor beta receptor binding
  • Ftype II transforming growth factor beta receptor binding

412 aa · 47 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

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

Cell proliferation & survivalGOCell adhesionUniProt · GOImmune signallingGOTranscriptional regulationGOApoptosis & cell deathGO
View supporting evidence

Cell proliferation & survival

  • ·negative regulation of cell population proliferation
  • ·positive regulation of cell population proliferation
  • ·regulation of cell population proliferation

Cell adhesion

  • ·Secreted, extracellular space, extracellular matrix
  • ·extracellular matrix
  • ·cell-cell junction organization
  • ·positive regulation of tight junction disassembly

Immune signalling

  • ·cytokine activity
  • ·negative regulation of macrophage cytokine production

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·positive regulation of DNA-templated transcription
  • ·positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II

Apoptosis & cell death

  • ·negative regulation of neuron apoptotic process
  • ·positive regulation of apoptotic process

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

Approved medicines with mapped indications

1 medicine · 3 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.

Anemia1 medicine
beta-Thalassemia1 medicine
Myelodysplastic Syndromes1 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.

luspatercept
ApprovedInhibitor

Transforming growth factor beta inhibitor

Indicated for Anemia, beta-Thalassemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Acts on a complex — shared with TGFB1, TGFB2 · 1 of 3 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

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 TGFB3

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene TGFB3 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.

Anemia
0.66Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.53

Pulmonary Emphysema
0.49Limited support

Genetic literature evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

View evidence synthesis (2)
AnemiaModerately supported
0.66
agreement 0.500.81
Clinical100%Literature0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.53 · 2 independent evidence families

Pulmonary EmphysemaLimited support
0.49
agreement 0.340.64
Genetic literature100%Literature0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 2 independent evidence families

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
Anemia0.53
Pulmonary Emphysema0.37

Drug development

3 compounds recorded · 1 approved · 2 in clinical development

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 (3)
FRESOLIMUMABPhase 2
LUSPATERCEPTApproval
BINTRAFUSP ALFAPhase 3

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 GO CC high conf support this modality.

Protein degradersEmerging

Feasibility evidence (database ubiquitination) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Other modalitiesStrong

Approved Drug support this modality.

View underlying tractability evidence (6)
AB · Advanced ClinicalAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Database UbiquitinationOC · Approved Drug

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Clinical trials

30

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)

RECRUITING · via luspatercept · NCT06788691

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

5

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 approval2020-06-25

    Approval: Reblozyl (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via luspatercept

  2. New publication2020-01-21
    Luspatercept in Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Who and When?

    Hematology/oncology clinics of North America · 2020 · 11 citations · Europe PMC · via luspatercept

  3. New publication2020-01-01
    Luspatercept in Patients with Lower-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2020 · 384 citations · Europe PMC · via luspatercept

  4. New publication2019-01-07
    Luspatercept improves hemoglobin levels and blood transfusion requirements in a study of patients with β-thalassemia.

    Blood · 2019 · 80 citations · Europe PMC · via luspatercept

  5. New publication2019-01-02
    Luspatercept for the treatment of anemia in myelodysplastic syndromes and primary myelofibrosis.

    Blood · 2019 · 76 citations · Europe PMC · via luspatercept

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.