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Protein / target

Inhibin beta A chain

Encoded byINHBAP08476Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
UniProt: P08476Ensembl: ENSG00000122641HGNC: HGNC:6066NCBI Gene: 3624
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Structure with Ligand

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Protein-containing complex binding

Strongest disease association

Poisoning

Via encoding gene INHBA · Genetic evidence · score 0.53

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Antibodies

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

Inhibins/activins are involved in regulating a number of diverse functions such as hypothalamic and pituitary hormone secretion, gonadal hormone secretion, germ cell development and maturation, erythroid differentiation, insulin secretion, nerve cell survival, embryonic axial development or bone gro…

View complete UniProt function annotation

Inhibins/activins are involved in regulating a number of diverse functions such as hypothalamic and pituitary hormone secretion, gonadal hormone secretion, germ cell development and maturation, erythroid differentiation, insulin secretion, nerve cell survival, embryonic axial development or bone growth, depending on their subunit composition

Subcellular location

Secreted
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (67)

Gene Ontology

  • Cactivin A complex
  • Cextracellular region
  • Cextracellular space
  • Cinhibin A complex
  • Cperinuclear region of cytoplasm
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Fcytokine activity
  • Fgrowth factor activity
  • Fhormone activity
  • Fidentical protein binding
  • Fpeptide hormone binding
  • Fprotein-containing complex binding

426 aa · 47 kDa

Biological roles

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

Cell proliferation & survivalUniProt · GOInhibitory neurotransmissionGOCell-cycle regulationGOLipid & lipoprotein metabolismGOImmune signallingGOTranscriptional regulationGO
View supporting evidence

Cell proliferation & survival

  • ·Inhibins/activins are involved in regulating a number of diverse functions such as hypot…
  • ·negative regulation of cell population proliferation

Inhibitory neurotransmission

  • ·GABAergic neuron differentiation

Cell-cycle regulation

  • ·negative regulation of G1/S transition of mitotic cell cycle

Lipid & lipoprotein metabolism

  • ·cellular response to cholesterol

Immune signalling

  • ·cytokine activity
  • ·cardiac fibroblast cell development
  • ·cytokine-mediated signaling pathway
  • ·negative regulation of B cell differentiation

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·positive regulation of DNA-templated transcription
  • ·positive regulation of gene expression
  • ·positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II
  • ·positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase III

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

Approved medicines with mapped indications

1 medicine · 1 area

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.

Hypertension1 medicine
sotatercept

Approved indications from ChEMBL (phase-4), via the canonical drug→disease graph.

Drugs targeting this protein

1

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.

sotatercept
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Inhibin beta A chain inhibitor

Indicated for Hypertension

Direct interaction with this protein · Only this protein recorded as a target

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

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 INHBA

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene INHBAthat 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.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension
0.73Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.59

Poisoning
0.53Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.32

Hypertension, Pulmonary
0.50Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.40

Stroke
0.50Limited support

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.30

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva
0.47Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

View evidence synthesis (5)
Pulmonary arterial hypertensionModerately supported
0.73
agreement 0.58–0.89
Clinical88%Literature12%

Open Targets aggregate 0.59 · 2 independent evidence families

PoisoningModerately supported
0.53
agreement 0.41–0.65
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.32 · 1 independent evidence family

Hypertension, PulmonaryModerately supported
0.50
agreement 0.35–0.66
Clinical95%Literature5%

Open Targets aggregate 0.40 · 2 independent evidence families

StrokeLimited support
0.50
agreement 0.38–0.62
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.30 · 1 independent evidence family

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressivaLimited support
0.47
agreement 0.31–0.62
Clinical97%Literature4%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 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
Pulmonary arterial hypertension0.59
Hypertension, Pulmonary0.40
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva0.37
Hypertension0.37
Poisoning0.32
Stroke0.30

Drug development

2 compounds recorded · 1 approved · 1 in clinical development

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 1 drug that targets this protein in Forefront's canonical graph (1 with a mapped approved indication, shown above): these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (2)
SOTATERCEPTApproval
GARETOSMABPhase 3

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 — Emerging

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

Antibodies — Strong

Advanced Clinical and UniProt loc high conf support this modality.

Protein degraders — Emerging

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

Other modalities — Strong

Advanced Clinical support this modality.

View underlying tractability evidence (7)
SM · Structure with LigandAB · Advanced ClinicalAB · UniProt loc high confAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Database UbiquitinationOC · Advanced Clinical

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

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. Ranked by active status, then clinical phase and recency, and spread across the targeting drugs.

A Phase 4, Prospective, Open-label, Single-Arm Study to Evaluate the Safety of Sotatercept in Adults With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) in IndiaPHASE4

NOT_YET_RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT07600723

An Open-label, Randomized, Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of Sotatercept Add-on Therapy Compared to Standard PAH Therapy With Pulmonary Vasodilators for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Associated With Pulmonary Vasodilator-resistant, Unrepaired Congenital Shunts (ASD, VSD, PDA) Including Eisenmenger Syndrome：SuMILE TrialPHASE4

RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT07356778

A Single-arm, Open-label Phase IV Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Sotatercept in Improving Pulmonary Vascular Recruitment in Patients With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH)PHASE4

RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT07140484

RECOMPENSE: Right vEntricular COMPENsation With SotatercEpt: a Prospective Single Arm Open Label Phase 4 Study to Evaluate the Effects of Sotatercept on Right Ventricular Function in Pulmonary Arterial HypertensionPHASE4

RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT06658522

View all trials (26)
An Open-label Long-term Follow-up Study to Evaluate the Effects of Sotatercept When Added to Background Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) Therapy for the Treatment of PAH (MK-7962-038)PHASE3

RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT07218029

Sota-ES - A Prospective, Non-randomized, Open-label, Multi-center Study of the Activin Signaling Inhibitor Sotatercept in Patients With Congenital Heart Disease and Eisenmenger´s SyndromePHASE2

NOT_YET_RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT07498803

A Phase 2 Open-label Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, and Efficacy of Sotatercept (MK-7962) in Japanese Children From 1 to Less Than 18 Years of Age With PAH on Standard of Care.PHASE2

NOT_YET_RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT07646860

SIRIUS - A Prospective, Non-randomized, Open-label, Proof-of-concept Study of Initial Combination Therapy With an Endothelin Receptor Antagonist, a Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitor and Sotatercept in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension A Single-arm, Multi-center, Interventional Phase II StudyPHASE2

NOT_YET_RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT07266519

An Open-label Extension Study to Evaluate Safety and Tolerability of Sotatercept (MK-7962) Administered Using a Weight-banded Approach in Participants With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) on Standard of CarePHASE2

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT06925750

A Phase 2, Multicenter, Open-label Extension Study to Evaluate the Effects of Sotatercept for the Treatment of Combined Postcapillary and Precapillary Pulmonary Hypertension (Cpc-PH) With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF)PHASE2

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT06814145

A Phase 2 Open-label Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of Sotatercept (MK-7962) in Children From 1 to Less Than 18 Years of Age With PAH on Standard of CarePHASE2

RECRUITING · via sotatercept · NCT05587712

Effect of Sotatercept on Central Cardiopulmonary Performance and Peripheral Oxygen Transport During Exercise in Pulmonary Arterial HypertensionPHASE4

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT06409026

A Phase 3 Non-randomized, Non-controlled, Open Label Clinical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of MK-7962 (Sotatercept) add-on to Background Therapy in Japanese Participants With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH)PHASE3

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT05818137

A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Study to Evaluate Sotatercept When Added to Background Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) Therapy in Newly Diagnosed Intermediate- and High-risk PAH PatientsPHASE3

TERMINATED · via sotatercept · NCT04811092

A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study to Evaluate Sotatercept When Added to Maximum Tolerated Background Therapy in Participants With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) World Health Organization (WHO) Functional Class (FC) III or FC IV at High Risk MortalityPHASE3

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT04896008

A Phase 3, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study to Compare the Efficacy and Safety of Sotatercept Versus Placebo When Added to Background Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) Therapy for the Treatment of PAHPHASE3

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT04576988

A Phase 2, Multicenter, Single-blinded, Randomized Study to Evaluate the Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Sotatercept (MK-7962) Administered Using Either a Weight-based or Weight-banded Approach in Participants With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) on Standard of CarePHASE2

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT06664801

A Phase 2a Single-Arm, Open-Label, Multicenter Exploratory Study to Assess the Effects of Sotatercept (ACE-011) for the Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial HypertensionPHASE2

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT03738150

A Phase 2, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized Study to Compare the Efficacy and Safety of Sotatercept (ACE-011) Versus Placebo When Added to Standard of Care for the Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH)PHASE2

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT03496207

A Phase IIa Study of Sotatercept on Bone Mass and Turnover in Patients With Multiple MyelomaPHASE2

WITHDRAWN · via sotatercept · NCT02230917

A Phase 2 Multicenter, Randomized, Open-Label , Multiple-Dose Study of Intravenous and Subcutaneous Administration of Sotatercept (ACE-011) in Subjects With End-Stage Kidney Disease on Hemodialysis Switched From Erythropoeisis Stimulating Agents With Staggered Dose Group Escalation in Part 1 Followed by a Parallel Group, Active Controlled Study of Selected Dose(s) and Regimen(s) in Part 2: To Evaluate the Pharmacokinetics, Safety, Tolerability, Efficacy, Dosing Regimen, and Pharmacodynamics of SotaterceptPHASE2

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT01999582

A Phase-2, Prospective, Open-Label Study to Determine the Safety and Efficacy of Sotatercept (ACE-011) in Subjects With Myeloproliferative Neoplasm (MPN) -Associated Myelofibrosis and AnemiaPHASE2

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT01712308

An Open-label, Randomized, Phase 2, Parallel, Dose-Ranging, Multicenter Study of Sotatercept for the Treatment of Patients With Anemia and Low or Intermediate-1 Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes or Non-proliferative Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML)PHASE2

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT01736683

A Phase 2A, Open-label Dose Finding Study to Determine the Safety and Tolerability of Sotatercept (ACE-011) in Adults With BETA(b)-THALASSEMIA.PHASE2

TERMINATED · via sotatercept · NCT01571635

Phase I/II, Open-Label Study to Determine Safety and Efficacy of Sotatercept (ACE-011) in Adults With Red Blood Cell Transfusion- Dependent Diamond Blackfan AnemiaPHASE1/PHASE2

TERMINATED · via sotatercept · NCT01464164

An Open-Label Randomized, Phase 2A, Dose-Ranging Study of Sotatercept (ACE-011) for Chemotherapy-Induced Anemia in Subjects With Advanced or Metastatic Solid Tumors Treated With Platinum-Based Chemotherapeutic RegimensPHASE2

TERMINATED · via sotatercept · NCT01284348

A Phase 2a, Multi-center, Randomized, Single Dose, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Followed by a Multiple-dose, Single-blind, Placebo-controlled, Dose Escalation Study to Evaluate the Pharmacokinetics, Safety, Efficacy, Tolerability, and Pharmacodynamics of Sotatercept (ACE-011) for the Correction of Anemia in Subjects With End-stage Renal Disease (ESRD) on Hemodialysis (HD).PHASE2

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT01146574

A Phase 2, Open-Label, Pharmacodynamic Study to Evaluate the Effect of Sotatercept (ACE-011) on Red Blood Cell Mass and Plasma Volume in Subjects With Solid TumorsPHASE2

TERMINATED · via sotatercept · NCT01190644

A Phase 2, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study of ACE-011 for the Treatment of Chemotherapy Induced Anemia in Patients With Metastatic Breast CancerPHASE2

TERMINATED · via sotatercept · NCT00931606

A Phase 1 Clinical Study in Healthy Females of Nonchildbearing Potential to Compare the Pharmacokinetics of Sotatercept (MK-7962) Administered as a Liquid Formulation in an Autoinjector Versus the Lyophilized FormulationPHASE1

COMPLETED · via sotatercept · NCT06930664

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

5

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.

  1. New publication2025-03-31
    Sotatercept in Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension at High Risk for Death.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2025 · 49 citations · Europe PMC · via sotatercept

  2. Regulatory approval2024-08-22

    Approval: Winrevair (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via sotatercept

  3. New publication2024-04-04
    SPECTRA Phase 2b Study: Impact of Sotatercept on Exercise Tolerance and Right Ventricular Function in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

    Circulation. Heart failure · 2024 · 46 citations · Europe PMC · via sotatercept

  4. New publication2023-03-06
    Phase 3 Trial of Sotatercept for Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

    The New England journal of medicine · 2023 · 493 citations · Europe PMC · via sotatercept

  5. New publication2023-01-06
    Sotatercept for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension: PULSAR open-label extension.

    The European respiratory journal · 2023 · 112 citations · Europe PMC · via sotatercept

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.