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Protein / target

Neuromedin-K receptor

Encoded byTACR3P29371Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
2
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Neuromedin K receptor

Strongest disease association

Hypogonadism

Via encoding gene TACR3 · Genetic evidence · score 0.75

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

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

Receptor for the tachykinin neuromedin-K (neurokinin B), also able to bind and respond to tachynins substance K/neurokinin A and substance P.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Receptor for the tachykinin neuromedin-K (neurokinin B), also able to bind and respond to tachynins substance K/neurokinin A and substance P (PubMed:1312036, PubMed:37391393). The rank order of affinity of this receptor to tachykinins is: neuromedin-K > substance K and substance P (PubMed:1312036). Neuromedin-K binding to its receptor triggers G protein-coupled receptor signaling via activation of G(q) and phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis by phospholipase C (PubMed:37391393). Neuromedin-K binding also triggers signaling via activation of adenylate cyclase activity which results in increased intracellular levels of cyclic AMP (cAMP) (By similarity)

Subcellular location

Cell membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (23)

Gene Ontology

  • Caxon terminus
  • Cdendritic spine head
  • Cdendritic spine membrane
  • Cneuronal cell body membrane
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Csperm midpiece
  • Fneuromedin K receptor activity
  • Ftachykinin receptor activity
  • Padenylate cyclase-activating G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
  • Pconditioned place preference
  • Pdrinking behavior
  • Pphospholipase C-activating tachykinin receptor signaling pathway

465 aa · 52 kDa

Biological roles

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

G protein-coupled signallingUniProt · GO
View supporting evidence

G protein-coupled signalling

  • ·Receptor for the tachykinin neuromedin-K (neurokinin B), also able to bind and respond t…
  • ·adenylate cyclase-activating G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway

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.

Hot Flashes1 medicine

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

2

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.

fezolinetant
Narrow target profileApprovedAntagonist

Neurokinin 3 receptor antagonist

Indicated for Hot Flashes

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

elinzanetant
Narrow target profileApprovedAntagonist

Neurokinin 3 receptor antagonist

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 2 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

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 TACR3

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene TACR3that 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.

Hypogonadism
0.80Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.66

Kallmann syndrome
0.69Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.47

Testicular Diseases
0.63Moderately supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.38

View evidence synthesis (3)
HypogonadismWell supported
0.80
agreement 0.680.92
Genetic80%Animal model19%Literature2%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.66 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

Kallmann syndromeModerately supported
0.69
agreement 0.570.81
Genetic75%Animal model24%Literature1%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.47 · 3 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

Testicular DiseasesModerately supported
0.63
agreement 0.510.74
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.38 · 1 independent evidence family

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
Hypogonadism0.66
Kallmann syndrome0.47
Testicular Diseases0.38

Drug development

4 compounds recorded · 2 approved · 2 in clinical development

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 2 drugs that target 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 (4)
ELINZANETANTApproval
TALNETANTPhase 2
FEZOLINETANTApproval
PAVINETANTPhase 2

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 moleculesStrong

Approved Drug and High-Quality Ligand support this modality.

AntibodiesEmerging

Feasibility evidence (go cc high conf and uniprot loc med conf) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

Protein degradersEmerging

Feasibility evidence (small molecule binder) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (7)
SM · Approved DrugSM · High-Quality LigandSM · Druggable FamilyAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

opioid dependenceClinPGxContraction of gastric smooth muscle and ileumBrennan et al. (2024)

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

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.

View all trials (26)

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

4

Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 2 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.

  1. Regulatory approval2025-11-17

    Approval: Lynkuet (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via elinzanetant

  2. Safety communication2025-04-10

    Drug Safety Update: Fezolinetant▼(Veoza): risk of liver injury; new recommendations to minimise risk

    mhra · safety · mhra · via fezolinetant

  3. Regulatory approval2023-12-07

    Approval: Veoza (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via fezolinetant

  4. New publication2019-12-01
    Treatment of Menopausal Vasomotor Symptoms With Fezolinetant, a Neurokinin 3 Receptor Antagonist: A Phase 2a Trial.

    The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2019 · 85 citations · Europe PMC · via fezolinetant

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.