Protein / target
Glycogen synthase kinase-3 alpha
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Protein kinase A catalytic subunit binding
Strongest disease association
Bipolar Disorder
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
Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal control of glucose homeostasis, Wnt signaling and regulation of transcription factors and microtubules, by phosphorylating and inactivating glycogen synthase (GYS1 or GYS2), CTNNB1/beta-catenin, APC and AXIN1.
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Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal control of glucose homeostasis, Wnt signaling and regulation of transcription factors and microtubules, by phosphorylating and inactivating glycogen synthase (GYS1 or GYS2), CTNNB1/beta-catenin, APC and AXIN1 (PubMed:11749387, PubMed:17478001, PubMed:19366350). Requires primed phosphorylation of the majority of its substrates (PubMed:11749387, PubMed:17478001, PubMed:19366350). Contributes to insulin regulation of glycogen synthesis by phosphorylating and inhibiting GYS1 activity and hence glycogen synthesis (PubMed:11749387, PubMed:17478001, PubMed:19366350). Regulates glycogen metabolism in liver, but not in muscle (By similarity). May also mediate the development of insulin resistance by regulating activation of transcription factors (PubMed:10868943, PubMed:17478001). In Wnt signaling, regulates the level and transcriptional activity of nuclear CTNNB1/beta-catenin (PubMed:17229088). Facilitates amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing and the generation of APP-derived amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer disease (PubMed:12761548). May be involved in the regulation of replication in pancreatic beta-cells (By similarity). Is necessary for the establishment of neuronal polarity and axon outgrowth (By similarity). Through phosphorylation of the anti-apoptotic protein MCL1, may control cell apoptosis in response to growth factors deprivation (By similarity). Acts as a regulator of autophagy by mediating phosphorylation of KAT5/TIP60 under starvation conditions which activates KAT5/TIP60 acetyltransferase activity and promotes acetylation of key autophagy regulators, such as ULK1 and RUBCNL/Pacer (PubMed:30704899). Negatively regulates extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway via death domain receptors. Promotes the formation of an anti-apoptotic complex, made of DDX3X, BRIC2 and GSK3B, at death receptors, including TNFRSF10B. The anti-apoptotic function is most effective with weak apoptotic signals and can be overcome by stronger stimulation (By similarity). Phosphorylates mTORC2 complex component RICTOR at 'Thr-1695' which facilitates FBXW7-mediated ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of RICTOR (PubMed:25897075)
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (59)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Capical dendrite
- Caxon
- Cbeta-catenin destruction complex
- Ccytoplasm
- Ccytosol
- Cmitochondrion
- Cneuronal cell body
- Cnucleus
- Cpostsynapse
- Cproximal dendrite
- FATP binding
- Fprotein kinase A catalytic subunit binding
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
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Excitatory neurotransmission
- ·excitatory postsynaptic potential
Kinase signalling
- ·Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal c…
- ·protein kinase A catalytic subunit binding
- ·protein serine kinase activity
- ·protein serine/threonine kinase activity
Transcriptional regulation
- ·Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal c…
- ·positive regulation of gene expression
- ·positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II
Metabolic enzyme activity
- ·Constitutively active protein kinase that acts as a negative regulator in the hormonal c…
- ·glycogen metabolic process
Immune signalling
- ·cellular response to interleukin-3
- ·positive regulation of substrate adhesion-dependent cell spreading
Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.
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.
2 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 1 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.
Glycogen synthase kinase-3 inhibitor
Indicated for Bipolar Disorder, Depressive Disorder
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 GSK3A
Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene GSK3Athat 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.
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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
4 compounds recorded · 2 approved · 2 in clinical development
View all recorded compounds (4)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
View underlying tractability evidence (8)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 a drug that targets 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 status changed
A Randomized, Balanced, Phase 1, Multiple-dose, Open-label, Two-treatment, Two-period, Two-sequence, Crossover, Relative Bioavailability Study to Investigate Lithium Brain/Plasma Pharmacokinetics and Safety of an AL001 Oral Capsule Compared to a Marketed Immediate-release Lithium Carbonate Capsule in Healthy Adult Subjects
- Label change
Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)
- Label change
Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)
- Label change
Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)
- Label change
Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)
- Label change
Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)
- New publicationEfficacy and safety of lithium carbonate treatment of chronic spinal cord injuries: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
- Label change
Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)
- Label change
Label change: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: LITHIUM CARBONATE (ANDA076832)
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.