Protein / target

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 4

FGFR4P22455Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
6
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Fibroblast growth factor receptor activity

Primary system

Endocrine & metabolic

Strongest disease association

Abnormality of the skeletal system

Genetic evidence · score 0.95

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

6 approved medicines against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Approved Drug

Clinical development

6 approved · 11 in clinical development

30 linked trials

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

Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for fibroblast growth factors and plays a role in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and migration, and in regulation of lipid metabolism, bile acid biosynthesis, glucose uptake, vitamin D metabolism and phosphate homeostasis. Required for normal down-regulation of the expression of CYP7A1, the rate-limiting enzyme in bile acid synthesis, in response to FGF19. Phosphorylates PLCG1 and FRS2. Ligand binding leads to the activation of several signaling cascades. Activation of PLCG1 leads to the production of the cellular signaling molecules diacylglycerol and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. Phosphorylation of FRS2 triggers recruitment of GRB2, GAB1, PIK3R1 and SOS1, and mediates activation of RAS, MAPK1/ERK2, MAPK3/ERK1 and the MAP kinase signaling pathway, as well as of the AKT1 signaling pathway. Promotes SRC-dependent phosphorylation of the matrix protease MMP14 and its lysosomal degradation. FGFR4 signaling is down-regulated by receptor internalization and degradation; MMP14 promotes internalization and degradation of FGFR4. Mutations that lead to constitutive kinase activation or impair normal FGFR4 inactivation lead to aberrant signaling

Subcellular location

Cell membraneEndosomeEndoplasmic reticulumSecreted
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (31)

Domains & features

Ig-like C2-type 1Ig-like C2-type 2Ig-like C2-type 3Protein kinase

Gene Ontology

  • Cendoplasmic reticulum
  • Cendosome
  • Cextracellular region
  • CGolgi apparatus
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Creceptor complex
  • Ctransport vesicle
  • FATP binding
  • Ffibroblast growth factor binding
  • Ffibroblast growth factor receptor activity
  • Fheparin binding
  • Pcell migration

802 aa · 88 kDa · 2 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Kinase signallingUniProt · GOProteolysisUniProt · GOMetabolic enzyme activityGOCell adhesionGOTranscriptional regulationGO
View supporting evidence

Kinase signalling

  • ·Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for fibroblast growth facto…
  • ·peptidyl-tyrosine phosphorylation
  • ·protein autophosphorylation

Proteolysis

  • ·Tyrosine-protein kinase that acts as a cell-surface receptor for fibroblast growth facto…
  • ·positive regulation of proteolysis

Metabolic enzyme activity

  • ·positive regulation of catalytic activity
  • ·regulation of lipid metabolic process

Cell adhesion

  • ·regulation of extracellular matrix disassembly

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·positive regulation of gene expression
View underlying pathways (14)

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

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.

FGF1FGF19KLBFGF2FGF4FGF6FGF9FGF8FGF5FGF18FGFR4

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.

Drugs targeting this protein

2

Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

erdafitinib
ApprovedInhibitor

Fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving cancer, urothelial carcinoma, urinary bladder carcinoma, neoplasm

Acts on a complex — shared with FGFR3, FGFR1, FGFR2 · 1 of 4 recorded protein targets

futibatinib
ApprovedInhibitor

Fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving cancer, biliary tract cancer, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma

Acts on a complex — shared with FGFR3, FGFR1, FGFR2 · 1 of 4 recorded protein targets

ChEMBL mechanism, action type and target identity. Open Targets clinical status and indications.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.

Strongest genetic associations

Human genetic evidence — the most direct causal link between this target and a disease.

Abnormality of the skeletal system0.95

Genetic · overall 0.58

type 2 diabetes mellitus0.89

Genetic · overall 0.57

neoplasm0.24

Genetic · overall 0.58

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.

idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis0.96

Clinical · overall 0.59

cholangiocarcinoma0.92

Clinical · overall 0.58

cancer0.90

Clinical · overall 0.73

urothelial carcinoma0.89

Clinical · overall 0.61

non-small cell lung carcinoma0.82

Clinical · overall 0.58

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

rhabdomyosarcoma0.60

Pathway

bone development disease0.57

Pathway

Show all associations
cancer0.73
urothelial carcinoma0.61
rhabdomyosarcoma0.60
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis0.59
neoplasm0.58
cholangiocarcinoma0.58
non-small cell lung carcinoma0.58
Abnormality of the skeletal system0.58
bone development disease0.57
type 2 diabetes mellitus0.57

Open Targets ranks 596 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.

Known drugs · 17 total

ORANTINIBPhase 3

hepatocellular carcinoma

ERDAFITINIBApproval

cancer · urothelial carcinoma · urinary bladder carcinoma

NINTEDANIB ESYLATEApproval

idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis · systemic sclerosis · non-small cell lung carcinoma

FEXAGRATINIBPhase 2

gastric adenocarcinoma · non-small cell lung carcinoma · breast cancer

DERAZANTINIBPhase 3

intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma · cholangiocarcinoma · gastric adenocarcinoma

INFIGRATINIBApproval

cholangiocarcinoma · neoplasm · cancer

NINTEDANIBApproval

idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis · colorectal cancer · interstitial lung disease

ENMD-981693Phase 2

colorectal carcinoma · breast carcinoma · exocrine pancreatic carcinoma

BRIVANIBPhase 3

breast cancer · liver cancer · hepatocellular carcinoma

FUTIBATINIBApproval

cancer · biliary tract cancer · intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Tractability

SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · UniProt UbiquitinationPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule BinderOC · Advanced Clinical

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.

Show remaining trials (24)

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via erdafitinib · NCT02465060

TERMINATED · via futibatinib · NCT04189445

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via erdafitinib · NCT03155620

RECRUITING · via futibatinib · NCT02693535

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.

Abnormality of the skeletal systemWell supported
0.95
agreement 0.831.00
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.58 · 1 independent evidence family

type 2 diabetes mellitusWell supported
0.91
agreement 0.801.00
Genetic85%Clinical11%Literature4%

Open Targets aggregate 0.57 · 3 independent evidence families

cancerWell supported
0.82
agreement 0.690.95
Clinical57%Pathway33%Literature10%

Open Targets aggregate 0.73 · 3 independent evidence families

neoplasmWell supported
0.78
agreement 0.670.89
Clinical63%Genetic23%Literature14%

Open Targets aggregate 0.58 · 3 independent evidence families

non-small cell lung carcinomaWell supported
0.77
agreement 0.660.88
Clinical57%Somatic mutation28%Literature11%RNA expression4%

Open Targets aggregate 0.58 · 4 independent evidence families

This ranking differs from Open Targets' own: re-weighting moves genetically-evidenced diseases above more heavily co-mentioned ones. 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 underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

5

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through 2 drugs that target this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. Regulatory approval2024-08-22

    Approval: Balversa (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via erdafitinib

  2. New publication2023-11-01
    Clinical and Genomic Landscape of FGFR3-Altered Urothelial Carcinoma and Treatment Outcomes with Erdafitinib: A Real-World Experience.

    Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2023 · 49 citations · Europe PMC · via erdafitinib

  3. Regulatory approval2023-07-04

    Approval: Lytgobi (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via futibatinib

  4. New publication2023-01-01
    Futibatinib for <i>FGFR2</i>-Rearranged Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2023 · 420 citations · Europe PMC · via futibatinib

  5. New publication2019-07-01
    Erdafitinib in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2019 · 1,006 citations · Europe PMC · via erdafitinib

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.