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Protein / target

Retinoic acid receptor RXR-beta

Encoded byRXRBP28702Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
4
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Sequence-specific double-stranded DNA binding

Strongest disease association

Psoriasis

Via encoding gene RXRB · Clinical evidence · score 0.58

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

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 retinoic acid.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Receptor for retinoic acid. Retinoic acid receptors bind as heterodimers to their target response elements in response to their ligands, all-trans or 9-cis retinoic acid, and regulate gene expression in various biological processes. The RAR/RXR heterodimers bind to the retinoic acid response elements (RARE)

Subcellular location

NucleusCytoplasm
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (25)

Domains & features

NR LBD

Gene Ontology

  • Cchromatin
  • Ccytosol
  • Cnucleolus
  • Cnucleoplasm
  • Cnucleus
  • CRNA polymerase II transcription regulator complex
  • Fchromatin DNA binding
  • FDNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • FDNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • Fnuclear receptor activity
  • Fnuclear steroid receptor activity
  • Fretinoic acid-responsive element binding

533 aa · 57 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

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

Nuclear receptor signallingGOTranscriptional regulationUniProt · GO
View supporting evidence

Nuclear receptor signalling

  • ·nuclear receptor activity

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·Receptor for retinoic acid. Retinoic acid receptors bind as heterodimers to their target…
  • ·RNA polymerase II transcription regulator complex
  • ·DNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • ·DNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific

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.

Lymphoma, T-Cell1 medicine
Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous1 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.

4 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

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.

bexarotene
ApprovedAgonist

Retinoid X receptor agonist

Indicated for Lymphoma, T-Cell, Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous, Neoplasms

Acts on a complex — shared with RXRG, RXRA · 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 RXRB

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene RXRB 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.

Psoriasis
0.72Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.58

Psoriasis vulgaris
0.64Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.52

Sarcoma, Kaposi
0.59Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.48

Neoplasms
0.58Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.47

Neurodegenerative Diseases
0.35Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.53 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

View evidence synthesis (5)
PsoriasisModerately supported
0.72
agreement 0.570.88
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.58 · 2 independent evidence families

Psoriasis vulgarisModerately supported
0.64
agreement 0.480.79
Clinical100%Literature0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.52 · 2 independent evidence families

Sarcoma, KaposiModerately supported
0.59
agreement 0.430.74
Clinical100%Literature0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.48 · 2 independent evidence families

NeoplasmsModerately supported
0.58
agreement 0.420.73
Clinical96%Literature4%

Open Targets aggregate 0.47 · 2 independent evidence families

Neurodegenerative DiseasesPreliminary
0.35
agreement 0.120.57
Pathway100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.53 · 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
Psoriasis0.58
Neurodegenerative Diseases0.53
Psoriasis vulgaris0.52
Sarcoma, Kaposi0.48
Neoplasms0.47

Drug development

6 compounds recorded · 4 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 (6)
ACITRETINApproval
MOFAROTENEPhase 1
IRX-4204Phase 2
ETRETINATEApproval
ALITRETINOINApproval
BEXAROTENEApproval

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 moleculesStrong

Approved Drug and Structure with Ligand support this modality.

Protein degradersEmerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (8)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Half-life DataPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

regulation of transcription factor activityToxCast

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

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)

TERMINATED · via bexarotene · NCT00615784

UNKNOWN · via bexarotene · NCT00845351

COMPLETED · via bexarotene · NCT00316030

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

1

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 approval2001-03-29

    Approval: Targretin (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via bexarotene

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

1

Papers about “Retinoid X Receptors” — a broader family this protein belongs to. Shown as context; not counted as papers specifically about this protein.

mPPAR gamma 2: tissue-specific regulator of an adipocyte enhancer.

Tontonoz P · Genes & development · 1994

via Retinoid X Receptors

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.