Protein / target
Oxytocin receptor
Protein at a glance
Biological role
Vasopressin receptor activity
Primary system
Nervous system
Strongest disease association
postpartum hemorrhage
Therapeutic maturity
Clinically validated target
Druggability
Small molecule
Clinical development
4 approved · 5 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
G protein-coupled receptor for oxytocin (OXT), a neuropeptide hormone released by the posterior pituitary gland that plays a key role in social behavior and other biological processes, such as milk ejection (PubMed:11923477, PubMed:22069312, PubMed:32832646, PubMed:35104164, PubMed:35241813, PubMed:35851571). Ligand binding causes a conformation change that triggers signaling via guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) and modulates the activity of downstream effectors, such as phospholipase C (PubMed:22069312, PubMed:32832646, PubMed:35104164, PubMed:35241813, PubMed:35851571). OXTR is mainly coupled to G(q) G proteins and mediates production of diacylglycerol (DAG) and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) second messengers that modulate the activity of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and promote the release of Ca(2+) ions from intracellular stores, respectively (PubMed:11923477, PubMed:22069312, PubMed:32832646, PubMed:35104164, PubMed:35241813, PubMed:35851571). In presence of high levels of oxytocin, also coupled to G(i) G proteins, mediating inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity (PubMed:22069312, PubMed:35241813, PubMed:35851571). Central release of oxytocin plays essential roles in social behavior, such as maternal care, social cognition and affiliative behaviors, triggering signaling that modulates neural circuits by altering ion channel activity, changing intrinsic neuronal properties and modifying synaptic transmission (both excitatory and inhibitory) (PubMed:19934046, PubMed:20647384, PubMed:21896752, PubMed:22123970, PubMed:24367110). Peripheral release of oxytocin (secretion into the bloodstream) promotes various processes, such as parturition, lactation or osteoblast differentiation (PubMed:6278592). OXTR-mediated signaling promotes milk ejection by triggering and strengthening contraction of the smooth muscle of mammary gland (By similarity)
Subcellular location
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (13)Hide
Gene Ontology
- Cplasma membrane
- Foxytocin receptor activity
- Fvasopressin receptor activity
- Pcell surface receptor signaling pathway
- Pcellular response to hormone stimulus
- Pfemale pregnancy
- PG protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
- Plactation
- Pmaternal process involved in parturition
- Pmuscle contraction
- Ppositive regulation of cold-induced thermogenesis
- Ppositive regulation of vasoconstriction
Biological roles
What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.
View supporting evidenceHide supporting evidence
G protein-coupled signalling
- ·G protein-coupled receptor for oxytocin (OXT), a neuropeptide hormone released by the po…
- ·G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway
Synaptic signalling
- ·G protein-coupled receptor for oxytocin (OXT), a neuropeptide hormone released by the po…
Ion channel gating
- ·G protein-coupled receptor for oxytocin (OXT), a neuropeptide hormone released by the po…
Muscle contraction
- ·muscle contraction
View underlying pathways (2)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.
Oxytocin receptor agonist
Appears in clinical studies involving hemorrhage, Uterine Inertia, autism spectrum disorder, postpartum hemorrhage
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.
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 465 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 · 9 total
premature birth · Pain · endometriosis
Neurodevelopmental delay
premature ejaculation · adenomyosis
postpartum hemorrhage · postpartum hemorrhage · Polyphagia
erectile dysfunction
pregnancy · infertility disorder
hemorrhage · Uterine Inertia · autism spectrum disorder
premature birth
Tractability
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 “Receptors, Oxytocin” — 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 a drug that targets this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.
- New publicationG Proteins-Associated Dose-Dependent Effects of Oxytocin on Oxytocin Neuronal Activity and Astrocytic Plasticity of the Supraoptic Nucleus.
- New publicationOxytocin and corticotropin-releasing hormone exaggerate nucleus tractus solitarii neuronal and synaptic activity following chronic intermittent hypoxia.
- New publicationConvergence of oxytocin and dopamine signalling in neuronal circuits: Insights into the neurobiology of social interactions across species.
- New publicationSocial anxiety disorder-associated gut microbiota increases social fear.
- New publicationPsychedelics reopen the social reward learning critical period.
- New publicationA randomized controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin in Phelan-McDermid syndrome.
- New publicationOxytocin, Neural Plasticity, and Social Behavior.
- New publicationThe Use of Oxytocin to Improve Feeding and Social Skills in Infants With Prader-Willi Syndrome.
- New publicationDyssynchrony and perinatal psychopathology impact of child disease on parents-child interactions, the paradigm of Prader Willi syndrom.
- New publicationEffects of single dose intranasal oxytocin on social cognition in schizophrenia.
- New publicationOxytocin discontinuation during active labor in women who undergo labor induction.
- New publicationHigher-dose oxytocin and hemorrhage after vaginal delivery: a randomized controlled trial.
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.