Protein / target
Glucocorticoid receptor
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Sequence-specific double-stranded DNA binding
Strongest disease association
Glucocorticoid resistance
Therapeutic position
Established drug target
Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.
Protein profile
Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.
Function overview
Receptor for glucocorticoids (GC).
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Receptor for glucocorticoids (GC) (PubMed:27120390, PubMed:37478846). Has a dual mode of action: as a transcription factor that binds to glucocorticoid response elements (GRE), both for nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, and as a modulator of other transcription factors (PubMed:28139699). Affects inflammatory responses, cellular proliferation and differentiation in target tissues. Involved in chromatin remodeling (PubMed:9590696). Plays a role in rapid mRNA degradation by binding to the 5' UTR of target mRNAs and interacting with PNRC2 in a ligand-dependent manner which recruits the RNA helicase UPF1 and the mRNA-decapping enzyme DCP1A, leading to RNA decay (PubMed:25775514). Could act as a coactivator for STAT5-dependent transcription upon growth hormone (GH) stimulation and could reveal an essential role of hepatic GR in the control of body growth (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (56)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Ccentrosome
- Cchromatin
- Ccytoplasm
- Ccytosol
- Cmembrane
- Cmitochondrial matrix
- Cmitochondrion
- Cnuclear speck
- Cnucleoplasm
- Cnucleus
- Cprotein-containing complex
- Cspindle
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Nuclear receptor signalling
- ·nuclear receptor activity
- ·nuclear receptor-mediated steroid hormone signaling pathway
- ·HSP90 chaperone cycle for steroid hormone receptors (SHR) in the presence of ligand
- ·Nuclear Receptor transcription pathway
Excitatory neurotransmission
- ·synaptic transmission, glutamatergic
Transcriptional regulation
- ·Receptor for glucocorticoids (GC) (PubMed:27120390, PubMed:37478846). Has a dual mode of…
- ·DNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
- ·DNA-binding transcription factor activity
- ·DNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
Immune signalling
- ·Receptor for glucocorticoids (GC) (PubMed:27120390, PubMed:37478846). Has a dual mode of…
- ·neuroinflammatory response
View underlying pathways (8)Hide underlying pathways
Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.
Interaction neighbourhood
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.
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.
Approved medicines with mapped indications
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.
Broader indication categories (1)Hide
Broad umbrella indications (e.g. “Neoplasms”). Shown here because every medicine also appears under a more specific disease above — kept for completeness, de-emphasised for clarity.
55 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 11 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
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.
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital, Adrenal Insufficiency, Arthritis, Juvenile, Arthritis, Psoriatic
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Acne Vulgaris, Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital, Anemia, Aplastic, Arthritis, Gouty
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital, Anemia, Aplastic, Arthritis, Gouty, Arthritis, Juvenile
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital, Anemia, Anemia, Aplastic, Arthritis
Glucocorticoid receptor antagonist
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Asthma, Colitis, Ulcerative, Crohn's Disease, Glomerulonephritis, IGA
View all 12 targeting drugsHide
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Acne Vulgaris, Arthritis, Juvenile, Arthritis, Psoriatic, Arthritis, Rheumatoid
Glucocorticoid receptor antagonist
Indicated for Cushing's Syndrome
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Skin Diseases
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Asthma, Dermatitis, Atopic, Lung Diseases, Obstructive, Nasal Polyps
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Asthma, Lung Diseases, Obstructive, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
Glucocorticoid receptor agonist
Indicated for Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne
ChEMBL mechanism, action type, target identity and approved indications. Open Targets clinical status.
Translational evidence
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 NR3C1
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene NR3C1 that 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.
View evidence synthesis (5)Hide
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.
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Drug development
71 compounds recorded · 55 approved · 14 in clinical development · 2 earlier-stage
View all recorded compounds (10)Hide
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 molecules — Strong
Protein degraders — Emerging
Other modalities — Strong
View underlying tractability evidence (10)Hide
Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.
Safety-related annotations
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
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)Hide
ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.
What's happening now
Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 7 drugs that target 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.
- Trial results posted
Open Label, Phase 2, Single-Arm Study of Selinexor, Daratumumab, Carfilzomib and Dexamethasone for High-Risk, Relapsed and Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma Patients Who Have Received 1 - 3 Prior Lines of Therapy
- Regulatory approval
Approval: FLUTICASONE PROPIONATE (ANDA219232)
- Trial results posted
A Randomized Phase II Pilot of Tailored Prednisone Reduction Versus Usual Care for the Treatment of Hyperglycemia During R-CHOP Chemotherapy
- Trial results posted
Phase 2 Study With Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) Driven Adaptive Strategy in Treatment for Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma (MM) With Upfront Daratumumab-based Therapy
- Regulatory approval
Approval: FLUTICASONE PROPIONATE AND SALMETEROL (ANDA213087)
- Trial results posted
A Phase IIIB Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Controlled Study to Evaluate the Efficacy, Safety and Pharmacokinetics of a Higher Dose of Ocrelizumab in Adults With Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis
- Regulatory approval
Approval: HYDROCORTISONE (ANDA218298)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: PREDNISONE (ANDA218035)
- Product recall
Recall (Class II): BUDESONIDE
- Product recall
Recall (Class II): FLUOCINONIDE
- New publicationNiraparib and abiraterone acetate plus prednisone for HRR-deficient metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer: a randomized phase 3 trial.
- New publicationThe cortisol axis and psychiatric disorders: an updated review.
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.
Related literature
Papers indexed under “Receptors, Glucocorticoid” — a subject heading that covers this protein without being specific to it. Shown as context; not counted as this protein's own research activity.
Europe PMC literature, reached through a MeSH descriptor linked to this protein.