Protein / target
Insulin receptor
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Insulin-like growth factor receptor binding
Primary system
Nervous system
Strongest disease association
Leprechaunism
Therapeutic maturity
Clinically validated target
Druggability
Small molecule
Clinical development
15 approved · 8 in clinical development
Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.
Protein profile
Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.
Function
Receptor tyrosine kinase which mediates the pleiotropic actions of insulin. Binding of insulin leads to phosphorylation of several intracellular substrates, including, insulin receptor substrates (IRS1, 2, 3, 4), SHC, GAB1, CBL and other signaling intermediates. Each of these phosphorylated proteins serve as docking proteins for other signaling proteins that contain Src-homology-2 domains (SH2 domain) that specifically recognize different phosphotyrosine residues, including the p85 regulatory subunit of PI3K and SHP2. Phosphorylation of IRSs proteins lead to the activation of two main signaling pathways: the PI3K-AKT/PKB pathway, which is responsible for most of the metabolic actions of insulin, and the Ras-MAPK pathway, which regulates expression of some genes and cooperates with the PI3K pathway to control cell growth and differentiation. Binding of the SH2 domains of PI3K to phosphotyrosines on IRS1 leads to the activation of PI3K and the generation of phosphatidylinositol-(3, 4, 5)-triphosphate (PIP3), a lipid second messenger, which activates several PIP3-dependent serine/threonine kinases, such as PDPK1 and subsequently AKT/PKB. The net effect of this pathway is to produce a translocation of the glucose transporter SLC2A4/GLUT4 from cytoplasmic vesicles to the cell membrane to facilitate glucose transport. Moreover, upon insulin stimulation, activated AKT/PKB is responsible for: anti-apoptotic effect of insulin by inducing phosphorylation of BAD; regulates the expression of gluconeogenic and lipogenic enzymes by controlling the activity of the winged helix or forkhead (FOX) class of transcription factors. Another pathway regulated by PI3K-AKT/PKB activation is mTORC1 signaling pathway which regulates cell growth and metabolism and integrates signals from insulin. AKT mediates insulin-stimulated protein synthesis by phosphorylating TSC2 thereby activating mTORC1 pathway. The Ras/RAF/MAP2K/MAPK pathway is mainly involved in mediating cell growth, survival and cellular differentiation of insulin. Phosphorylated IRS1 recruits GRB2/SOS complex, which triggers the activation of the Ras/RAF/MAP2K/MAPK pathway. In addition to binding insulin, the insulin receptor can bind insulin-like growth factors (IGFI and IGFII). Isoform Short has a higher affinity for IGFII binding. When present in a hybrid receptor with IGF1R, binds IGF1. PubMed:12138094 shows that hybrid receptors composed of IGF1R and INSR isoform Long are activated with a high affinity by IGF1, with low affinity by IGF2 and not significantly activated by insulin, and that hybrid receptors composed of IGF1R and INSR isoform Short are activated by IGF1, IGF2 and insulin. In contrast, PubMed:16831875 shows that hybrid receptors composed of IGF1R and INSR isoform Long and hybrid receptors composed of IGF1R and INSR isoform Short have similar binding characteristics, both bind IGF1 and have a low affinity for insulin. In adipocytes, inhibits lipolysis (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (69)Hide
Domains & features
Gene Ontology
- Caxon
- Ccaveola
- Cdendrite membrane
- Cendosome membrane
- Cexternal side of plasma membrane
- Cextracellular exosome
- Cinsulin receptor complex
- Clate endosome
- Clysosome
- Cmembrane
- Cneuronal cell body membrane
- Cplasma membrane
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
View supporting evidenceHide supporting evidence
Kinase signalling
- ·Receptor tyrosine kinase which mediates the pleiotropic actions of insulin. Binding of i…
- ·protein kinase activator activity
- ·protein tyrosine kinase activity
- ·positive regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B signal transduction
Transcriptional regulation
- ·Receptor tyrosine kinase which mediates the pleiotropic actions of insulin. Binding of i…
- ·positive regulation of DNA-templated transcription
- ·regulation of DNA-templated transcription
G protein-coupled signalling
- ·G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
Immune signalling
- ·symbiont entry into host cell
View underlying pathways (6)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.
Drugs targeting this protein
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.
Insulin receptor agonist
Appears in clinical studies involving diabetes mellitus, type 2 diabetes mellitus, type 1 diabetes mellitus, type 1 diabetes mellitus
Insulin receptor agonist
Appears in clinical studies involving diabetes mellitus, gestational diabetes, type 1 diabetes mellitus, cystic fibrosis-related diabetes
Insulin receptor agonist
Insulin receptor agonist
Appears in clinical studies involving type 2 diabetes mellitus, diabetes mellitus, type 1 diabetes mellitus, type 2 diabetes mellitus
ChEMBL mechanism, action type and target identity. Open Targets clinical status and indications.
Translational evidence
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.
Highest-confidence therapeutic associations
Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.
Highest overall evidence
Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.
Show all associationsHide all associations
Open Targets ranks 1,353 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 · 23 total
breast cancer · colorectal cancer
gestational diabetes
type 2 diabetes mellitus · diabetes mellitus · type 1 diabetes mellitus
diabetes mellitus · type 2 diabetes mellitus · type 2 diabetes mellitus
type 2 diabetes mellitus · type 1 diabetes mellitus · Hypoglycemia
adrenal cortex carcinoma · breast cancer · hepatocellular carcinoma
breast cancer · neoplasm
type 1 diabetes mellitus · type 2 diabetes mellitus · diabetes mellitus
type 1 diabetes mellitus · type 1 diabetes mellitus · type 2 diabetes mellitus
diabetes mellitus · type 2 diabetes mellitus · type 2 diabetes mellitus
Tractability
Safety liabilities
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.
Show remaining trials (24)Hide
ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.
Related literature
Papers indexed under “Receptor, Insulin” — 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.
Forefront confidence
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.
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
Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through 4 drugs that target this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.
- PricingSTAT+: Michigan Supreme Court ruling allows probe into Lilly insulin pricing
- Industry developmentSTAT+: Popular insulin product enters shortage as other pens leave market
- Industry developmentSTAT+: FTC settles lawsuit with CVS Caremark over charges it manipulated insulin prices, impeded access
- Regulatory actionSTAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a broader $35 insulin cap, a former FDA cancer drug chief, and more
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Bysumlog (EMA)
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Dazparda (EMA)
- Research developmentStudy suggests $35 monthly insulin cap has increased patient access
- Research developmentIf you cap insulin at $35 a month, people with type 2 diabetes stick to treatment, study finds
- Regulatory approval
Approval: Ondibta (EMA)
- New publicationWhat comparative endocrinology tells us about the original function of the insulin superfamily.
- New publicationHippocampal-Specific Insulin Resistance Elicits Synaptic Effects on Glutamate Neurotransmission.
- New publicationInsulin Resistance in Type 1 Diabetes: Pathophysiological, Clinical, and Therapeutic Relevance.
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.