Back to discover

Protein / target

Forkhead box protein O1

Encoded byFOXO1Q12778Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Structure with Ligand
1
Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

DNA-binding transcription factor

Strongest disease association

Hypothyroidism

Via encoding gene FOXO1 · Genetic evidence · score 0.76

Research activity

Emerging research

1 papers · latest 2024

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

Transcription factor that is the main target of insulin signaling and regulates metabolic homeostasis in response to oxidative stress.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Transcription factor that is the main target of insulin signaling and regulates metabolic homeostasis in response to oxidative stress (PubMed:10358076, PubMed:12228231, PubMed:15220471, PubMed:15890677, PubMed:18356527, PubMed:19221179, PubMed:20543840, PubMed:21245099). Binds to the insulin response element (IRE) with consensus sequence 5'-TT[G/A]TTTTG-3' and the related Daf-16 family binding element (DBE) with consensus sequence 5'-TT[G/A]TTTAC-3' (PubMed:10358076). Activity suppressed by insulin (PubMed:10358076). Main regulator of redox balance and osteoblast numbers and controls bone mass (By similarity). Orchestrates the endocrine function of the skeleton in regulating glucose metabolism (By similarity). Also acts as a key regulator of chondrogenic commitment of skeletal progenitor cells in response to lipid availability: when lipids levels are low, translocates to the nucleus and promotes expression of SOX9, which induces chondrogenic commitment and suppresses fatty acid oxidation (By similarity). Acts synergistically with ATF4 to suppress osteocalcin/BGLAP activity, increasing glucose levels and triggering glucose intolerance and insulin insensitivity (By similarity). Also suppresses the transcriptional activity of RUNX2, an upstream activator of osteocalcin/BGLAP (By similarity). Acts as an inhibitor of glucose sensing in pancreatic beta cells by acting as a transcription repressor and suppressing expression of PDX1 (By similarity). In hepatocytes, promotes gluconeogenesis by acting together with PPARGC1A and CEBPA to activate the expression of genes such as IGFBP1, G6PC1 and PCK1 (By similarity). Also promotes gluconeogenesis by directly promoting expression of PPARGC1A and G6PC1 (PubMed:17024043). Important regulator of cell death acting downstream of CDK1, PKB/AKT1 and STK4/MST1 (PubMed:18356527, PubMed:19221179). Promotes neural cell death (PubMed:18356527). Mediates insulin action on adipose tissue (By similarity). Regulates the expression of adipogenic genes such as PPARG during preadipocyte differentiation and, adipocyte size and adipose tissue-specific gene expression in response to excessive calorie intake (By similarity). Regulates the transcriptional activity of GADD45A and repair of nitric oxide-damaged DNA in beta-cells (By similarity). Required for the autophagic cell death induction in response to starvation or oxidative stress in a transcription-independent manner (PubMed:20543840). Mediates the function of MLIP in cardiomyocytes hypertrophy and cardiac remodeling (By similarity). Positive regulator of apoptosis in cardiac smooth muscle cells as a result of its transcriptional activation of pro-apoptotic genes (PubMed:19483080). Regulates endothelial cell (EC) viability and apoptosis in a PPIA/CYPA-dependent manner via transcription of CCL2 and BCL2L11 which are involved in EC chemotaxis and apoptosis (PubMed:31063815)

Subcellular location

CytoplasmNucleus
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (51)

Gene Ontology

  • Cchromatin
  • Ccytoplasm
  • Ccytosol
  • Cmitochondrion
  • Cnucleoplasm
  • Cnucleus
  • Fbeta-catenin binding
  • Fchromatin binding
  • Fchromatin DNA binding
  • FDNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • FDNA-binding transcription factor activity
  • FDNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific

655 aa · 70 kDa

Biological roles

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

Lipid & lipoprotein metabolismUniProt · GOCell migrationUniProtTranscriptional regulationUniProt · GOApoptosis & cell deathGOImmune signallingGO
View supporting evidence

Lipid & lipoprotein metabolism

  • ·Transcription factor that is the main target of insulin signaling and regulates metaboli…
  • ·response to fatty acid

Cell migration

  • ·Transcription factor that is the main target of insulin signaling and regulates metaboli…

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·Transcription factor that is the main target of insulin signaling and regulates metaboli…
  • ·DNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • ·DNA-binding transcription factor activity
  • ·DNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific

Apoptosis & cell death

  • ·apoptotic process
  • ·negative regulation of apoptotic process
  • ·positive regulation of apoptotic process
  • ·positive regulation of smooth muscle cell apoptotic process

Immune signalling

  • ·fat cell differentiation
  • ·negative regulation of fat cell differentiation

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 FOXO1

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene FOXO1that 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.

Hypothyroidism
0.76Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.46

Rhinitis, Allergic
0.72Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.44

Respiratory Tract Diseases
0.64Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.39

Osteoarthritis, Hip
0.64Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.39

Rhabdomyosarcoma
0.50Limited support

Somatic mutation evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.42

View evidence synthesis (5)
HypothyroidismWell supported
0.76
agreement 0.640.88
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.46 · 1 independent evidence family

Rhinitis, AllergicModerately supported
0.72
agreement 0.580.86
Genetic99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.44 · 2 independent evidence families

Respiratory Tract DiseasesModerately supported
0.64
agreement 0.510.78
Genetic99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.39 · 2 independent evidence families

Osteoarthritis, HipModerately supported
0.64
agreement 0.520.76
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.39 · 1 independent evidence family

RhabdomyosarcomaLimited support
0.50
agreement 0.370.63
Somatic mutation69%Pathway18%Literature13%

Open Targets aggregate 0.42 · 3 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
Burkitt Lymphoma0.47
Hypothyroidism0.46
Rhinitis, Allergic0.44
Rhabdomyosarcoma0.42
Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse0.41
Respiratory Tract Diseases0.39
Osteoarthritis, Hip0.39

Tractability

Small moleculesEmerging

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

Protein degradersEmerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (5)
SM · Structure with LigandPR · UniProt UbiquitinationPR · 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.

Research activity

1 papers · to 2024

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

Most cited

Recent

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.