Protein / target

Neurotrophic factor BDNF precursor form

Encoded byBDNFP23560Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot

UniProt: P23560 Ensembl: ENSG00000176697 HGNC: HGNC:1033 NCBI Gene: 627

Antibody-tractable

Druggability

UniProt loc high conf

Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Nerve growth factor receptor binding

Strongest disease association

Smoking initiation

Via encoding gene BDNF · Genetic evidence · score 0.84

Research activity

Actively researched

56 papers · latest 2025

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

Important signaling molecule that activates signaling cascades downstream of NTRK2.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Important signaling molecule that activates signaling cascades downstream of NTRK2 (PubMed:11152678). During development, promotes the survival and differentiation of selected neuronal populations of the peripheral and central nervous systems. Participates in axonal growth, pathfinding and in the modulation of dendritic growth and morphology. Major regulator of synaptic transmission and plasticity at adult synapses in many regions of the CNS. The versatility of BDNF is emphasized by its contribution to a range of adaptive neuronal responses including long-term potentiation (LTP), long-term depression (LTD), certain forms of short-term synaptic plasticity, as well as homeostatic regulation of intrinsic neuronal excitability

Subcellular location

Secreted

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (26)

Gene Ontology

Ccytoplasm
Cendoplasmic reticulum lumen
Cextracellular region
Cextracellular space
Cperinuclear region of cytoplasm
Csynaptic vesicle
Fgrowth factor activity
Fnerve growth factor receptor binding
Paxon guidance
Pbrain-derived neurotrophic factor receptor signaling pathway
Pcell surface receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway
Pcollateral sprouting

247 aa · 28 kDa · 5 isoforms

Biological roles

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

Synaptic signallingUniProt · GOReceptor tyrosine kinase signallingGO

View supporting evidence

Synaptic signalling

·Important signaling molecule that activates signaling cascades downstream of NTRK2 (PubM…
·modulation of chemical synaptic transmission
·positive regulation of synapse assembly
·synapse assembly

Receptor tyrosine kinase signalling

·cell surface receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway

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

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 BDNF

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene BDNFthat 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.

Obesity disorder

0.89Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.54

Smoking initiation

0.84Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.51

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2

0.79Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.49

Metabolic Syndrome

0.74Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.43

Heart Failure

0.67Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.41

View evidence synthesis (5)

Obesity disorderWell supported

0.89

agreement 0.77–1.00

Genetic68%Animal model21%Literature12%

Open Targets aggregate 0.54 · 3 independent evidence families

Smoking initiationWell supported

0.84

agreement 0.72–0.96

Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.51 · 1 independent evidence family

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2Well supported

0.79

agreement 0.66–0.93

Genetic84%Literature16%

Open Targets aggregate 0.49 · 2 independent evidence families

Metabolic SyndromeModerately supported

0.74

agreement 0.63–0.86

Genetic69%Animal model18%Literature13%

Open Targets aggregate 0.43 · 3 independent evidence families

Heart FailureModerately supported

0.67

agreement 0.53–0.81

Genetic90%Literature11%

Open Targets aggregate 0.41 · 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

Obesity disorder0.54

Smoking initiation0.51

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 20.49

Metabolic Syndrome0.43

Heart Failure0.41

Gout0.40

Neoplasms0.40

Tractability

Antibodies — Emerging

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

Protein degraders — Emerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (5)

AB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

respond to treatment for methamphetamine dependenceClinPGxImpairment, Learning and memoryAOP-WikiN/A, NeurodegenerationAOP-WikiImpairment, Learning and memoryAOP-WikiImpairment, Learning and memoryAOP-Wikiside effectsClinPGxweight gainClinPGxsuicide ideationClinPGx

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.