Back to discover

Protein / target

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 alpha

Encoded byGSK3AP49840Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
2
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Protein kinase A catalytic subunit binding

Strongest disease association

Bipolar Disorder

Via encoding gene GSK3A · Clinical evidence · score 0.60

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

Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal control of glucose homeostasis, Wnt signaling and regulation of transcription factors and microtubules, by phosphorylating and inactivating glycogen synthase (GYS1 or GYS2), CTNNB1/beta-catenin, APC and AXIN1.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal control of glucose homeostasis, Wnt signaling and regulation of transcription factors and microtubules, by phosphorylating and inactivating glycogen synthase (GYS1 or GYS2), CTNNB1/beta-catenin, APC and AXIN1 (PubMed:11749387, PubMed:17478001, PubMed:19366350). Requires primed phosphorylation of the majority of its substrates (PubMed:11749387, PubMed:17478001, PubMed:19366350). Contributes to insulin regulation of glycogen synthesis by phosphorylating and inhibiting GYS1 activity and hence glycogen synthesis (PubMed:11749387, PubMed:17478001, PubMed:19366350). Regulates glycogen metabolism in liver, but not in muscle (By similarity). May also mediate the development of insulin resistance by regulating activation of transcription factors (PubMed:10868943, PubMed:17478001). In Wnt signaling, regulates the level and transcriptional activity of nuclear CTNNB1/beta-catenin (PubMed:17229088). Facilitates amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing and the generation of APP-derived amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer disease (PubMed:12761548). May be involved in the regulation of replication in pancreatic beta-cells (By similarity). Is necessary for the establishment of neuronal polarity and axon outgrowth (By similarity). Through phosphorylation of the anti-apoptotic protein MCL1, may control cell apoptosis in response to growth factors deprivation (By similarity). Acts as a regulator of autophagy by mediating phosphorylation of KAT5/TIP60 under starvation conditions which activates KAT5/TIP60 acetyltransferase activity and promotes acetylation of key autophagy regulators, such as ULK1 and RUBCNL/Pacer (PubMed:30704899). Negatively regulates extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway via death domain receptors. Promotes the formation of an anti-apoptotic complex, made of DDX3X, BRIC2 and GSK3B, at death receptors, including TNFRSF10B. The anti-apoptotic function is most effective with weak apoptotic signals and can be overcome by stronger stimulation (By similarity). Phosphorylates mTORC2 complex component RICTOR at 'Thr-1695' which facilitates FBXW7-mediated ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of RICTOR (PubMed:25897075)

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (59)

Domains & features

Protein kinase

Gene Ontology

  • Capical dendrite
  • Caxon
  • Cbeta-catenin destruction complex
  • Ccytoplasm
  • Ccytosol
  • Cmitochondrion
  • Cneuronal cell body
  • Cnucleus
  • Cpostsynapse
  • Cproximal dendrite
  • FATP binding
  • Fprotein kinase A catalytic subunit binding

483 aa · 51 kDa

Biological roles

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

Excitatory neurotransmissionGOKinase signallingUniProt · GOTranscriptional regulationUniProt · GOMetabolic enzyme activityUniProt · GOImmune signallingGO
View supporting evidence

Excitatory neurotransmission

  • ·excitatory postsynaptic potential

Kinase signalling

  • ·Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal c…
  • ·protein kinase A catalytic subunit binding
  • ·protein serine kinase activity
  • ·protein serine/threonine kinase activity

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal c…
  • ·positive regulation of gene expression
  • ·positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II

Metabolic enzyme activity

  • ·Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal c…
  • ·glycogen metabolic process

Immune signalling

  • ·cellular response to interleukin-3
  • ·positive regulation of substrate adhesion-dependent cell spreading

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.

Bipolar Disorder1 medicine
Depressive Disorder1 medicine

2 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.

lithium carbonate
ApprovedInhibitor

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 inhibitor

Indicated for Bipolar Disorder, Depressive Disorder

Acts on a complex — shared with GSK3B · 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 GSK3A

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene GSK3Athat 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.

Bipolar Disorder
0.74Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.60

Major depressive disorder
0.66Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.54

Depressive Disorder
0.44Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.35

Schizophrenia
0.33Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.26

COVID-19
0.26Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

View evidence synthesis (5)
Bipolar DisorderModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.590.90
Clinical99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

Major depressive disorderModerately supported
0.66
agreement 0.510.82
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.54 · 2 independent evidence families

Depressive DisorderLimited support
0.44
agreement 0.280.59
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.35 · 2 independent evidence families

SchizophreniaLimited support
0.33
agreement 0.180.49
Clinical94%Literature6%

Open Targets aggregate 0.26 · 2 independent evidence families

COVID-19Preliminary
0.26
agreement 0.090.44
Pathway90%Literature10%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 2 independent evidence families · 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
Bipolar Disorder0.60
Major depressive disorder0.54
COVID-190.37
Tuberculosis0.37
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome0.37
Autoimmune disorder of central nervous system0.36
Depressive Disorder0.35
Schizophrenia0.26

Drug development

4 compounds recorded · 2 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 (4)
LITHIUM CARBONATEApproval
AZD-1080Phase 1
LITHIUM CITRATEApproval
LY-2090314Phase 2

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 (literature and database ubiquitination) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

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

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

heart diseaseForce et al. (2011)

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)

UNKNOWN · via lithium carbonate · NCT03056248

COMPLETED · via lithium carbonate · NCT00602537

COMPLETED · via lithium carbonate · NCT00641927

COMPLETED · via lithium carbonate · NCT00177567

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

10

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. Trial status changed2026-07-29

    A Randomized, Balanced, Phase 1, Multiple-dose, Open-label, Two-treatment, Two-period, Two-sequence, Crossover, Relative Bioavailability Study to Investigate Lithium Brain/Plasma Pharmacokinetics and Safety of an AL001 Oral Capsule Compared to a Marketed Immediate-release Lithium Carbonate Capsule in Healthy Adult Subjects

    Status changed to Completed · ClinicalTrials.gov · via lithium carbonate

  2. Label change2026-07-13

    Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lithium carbonate

  3. Label change2020-02-14

    Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lithium carbonate

  4. Label change2020-02-14

    Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lithium carbonate

  5. Label change2020-02-14

    Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lithium carbonate

  6. Label change2012-03-06

    Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lithium carbonate

  7. New publication2011-11-22
    Efficacy and safety of lithium carbonate treatment of chronic spinal cord injuries: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

    Spinal cord · 2012 · 41 citations · Europe PMC · via lithium carbonate

  8. Label change2007-12-26

    Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lithium carbonate

  9. Label change2007-09-28

    Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lithium carbonate

  10. Regulatory approval2004-10-28

    Approval: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via lithium carbonate

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.