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Protein / target

Osteocalcin

Encoded byBGLAPP02818Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
UniProt: P02818Ensembl: ENSG00000242252HGNC: HGNC:1043NCBI Gene: 632
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Structure with Ligand
1
Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Structural constituent of bone

Strongest disease association

Renal Insufficiency

Via encoding gene BGLAP · Genetic evidence · score 0.52

Research activity

Emerging research

1 papers · latest 2023

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

The carboxylated form is one of the main organic components of the bone matrix, which constitutes 1-2% of the total bone protein.

View complete UniProt function annotation

The carboxylated form is one of the main organic components of the bone matrix, which constitutes 1-2% of the total bone protein (PubMed:3019668, PubMed:6967872). Acts as a negative regulator of bone formation and is required to limit bone formation without impairing bone resorption or mineralization (By similarity). Binds strongly to apatite and calcium upon gamma-carboxylation; this modification is essential for bone metabolism (PubMed:6967872, PubMed:39880952)

Subcellular location

Secreted
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (49)

Domains & features

Gla

Gene Ontology

  • Ccytoplasm
  • Cdendrite
  • Cendoplasmic reticulum lumen
  • Cextracellular region
  • Cextracellular space
  • CGolgi lumen
  • Cperikaryon
  • Cvesicle
  • Fcalcium ion binding
  • Fhormone activity
  • Fhydroxyapatite binding
  • Fstructural constituent of bone

100 aa · 11 kDa

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 BGLAP

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene BGLAPthat 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.

Renal Insufficiency
0.53Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.32

Thyroid gland carcinoma
0.49Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.30

Carcinoma, Renal Cell
0.45Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.27

Ischemic Stroke
0.42Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.25

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
0.34Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.17

View evidence synthesis (5)
Renal InsufficiencyModerately supported
0.53
agreement 0.39–0.67
Genetic98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.32 · 2 independent evidence families

Thyroid gland carcinomaLimited support
0.49
agreement 0.35–0.63
Genetic98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.30 · 2 independent evidence families

Carcinoma, Renal CellLimited support
0.45
agreement 0.33–0.57
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.27 · 1 independent evidence family

Ischemic StrokeLimited support
0.42
agreement 0.28–0.56
Genetic97%Literature3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.25 · 2 independent evidence families

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2Limited support
0.34
agreement 0.20–0.47
Genetic63%Literature38%

Open Targets aggregate 0.17 · 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
Neurodegenerative Diseases0.37
Renal Insufficiency0.32
Thyroid gland carcinoma0.30
Carcinoma, Renal Cell0.27
Ischemic Stroke0.25
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 20.17
Diabetes Mellitus0.15
Stroke0.13
Cerebral Hemorrhage0.13

Tractability

Small molecules — Emerging

Feasibility evidence (structure with ligand) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Antibodies — Emerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (4)
SM · Structure with LigandAB · UniProt loc high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · GO CC med conf

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

Impaired recruitment , Population trajectoryAOP-Wiki

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.

Research activity

1 papers · to 2023

Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.

Most cited

Osteocalcin: A Multifaceted Bone-Derived Hormone.50 cites

Karsenty G · Annual review of nutrition · 2023

Recent

Osteocalcin: A Multifaceted Bone-Derived Hormone.

Karsenty G · Annual review of nutrition · 2023

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.