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Protein / target

Ornithine decarboxylase

Encoded byODC1P11926Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
UniProt: P11926Ensembl: ENSG00000115758HGNC: HGNC:8109NCBI Gene: 4953
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
2
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug
1
Research papers

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Ornithine decarboxylase activator

Strongest disease association

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Via encoding gene ODC1 · Genetic literature evidence · score 0.61

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

Research activity

Emerging research

1 papers · latest 1986

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

Catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step of polyamine biosynthesis that converts ornithine into putrescine, which is the precursor for the polyamines, spermidine and spermine.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step of polyamine biosynthesis that converts ornithine into putrescine, which is the precursor for the polyamines, spermidine and spermine. Polyamines are essential for cell proliferation and are implicated in cellular processes, ranging from DNA replication to apoptosis

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (11)

Gene Ontology

  • Ccytoplasm
  • Ccytosol
  • Fornithine decarboxylase activator activity
  • Fornithine decarboxylase activity
  • Fprotein homodimerization activity
  • Ppolyamine metabolic process
  • Pputrescine biosynthetic process from arginine, via ornithine
  • Pregulation of protein catabolic process
  • Presponse to virus
  • Pspermidine biosynthetic process
  • Pspermine biosynthetic process

461 aa · 51 kDa

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 ODC1

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene ODC1that 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.

Neoplasms
0.53Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.40

Neurodevelopmental Disorders
0.50Limited support

Genetic literature evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

Leishmaniasis
0.46Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.37

Adenomatous Polyposis Coli
0.41Limited support

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.33

Autoimmune disorder of central nervous system
0.23Preliminary

Pathway evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.35 · no direct causal or clinical evidence

View evidence synthesis (5)
NeoplasmsModerately supported
0.53
agreement 0.37–0.68
Clinical78%Literature22%

Open Targets aggregate 0.40 · 2 independent evidence families

Neurodevelopmental DisordersLimited support
0.50
agreement 0.35–0.65
Genetic literature96%Literature4%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 2 independent evidence families

LeishmaniasisLimited support
0.46
agreement 0.30–0.61
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.37 · 2 independent evidence families

Adenomatous Polyposis ColiLimited support
0.41
agreement 0.26–0.57
Clinical94%Literature6%

Open Targets aggregate 0.33 · 2 independent evidence families

Autoimmune disorder of central nervous systemPreliminary
0.23
agreement 0.01–0.46
Pathway100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.35 · 1 independent evidence family · no direct causal or clinical evidence

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
Neoplasms0.40
Neurodevelopmental Disorders0.37
Leishmaniasis0.37
Autoimmune disorder of central nervous system0.35
Adenomatous Polyposis Coli0.33
Neurodegenerative Diseases0.31

Drug development

2 compounds recorded · 2 approved

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines.

View all recorded compounds (2)
EFLORNITHINEApproval
EFLORNITHINE HYDROCHLORIDEApproval

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

Approved Drug and Structure with Ligand support this modality.

Protein degraders — Emerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (7)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Research activity

1 papers · to 1986

Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.

Most cited

Recent advances in the biochemistry of polyamines in eukaryotes.1,096 cites

Pegg AE · The Biochemical journal · 1986

Recent

Recent advances in the biochemistry of polyamines in eukaryotes.

Pegg AE · The Biochemical journal · 1986

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.