Protein / target

Placenta growth factor

PGFP49763Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
1
Approved medicines
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Structure with Ligand

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor binding

Primary system

Cardiovascular system

Strongest disease association

diabetic macular edema

Clinical evidence · score 0.60

Therapeutic maturity

Clinically validated target

1 approved medicine against this target

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Structure with Ligand

Clinical development

1 approved · 2 in clinical development

30 linked trials

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

Growth factor active in angiogenesis and endothelial cell growth, stimulating their proliferation and migration. It binds to the receptor FLT1/VEGFR-1. Isoform PlGF-2 binds NRP1/neuropilin-1 and NRP2/neuropilin-2 in a heparin-dependent manner. Also promotes cell tumor growth

Subcellular location

Secreted
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (18)

Gene Ontology

  • Cextracellular region
  • Cextracellular space
  • Cmembrane
  • Fchemoattractant activity
  • Fgrowth factor activity
  • Fheparin binding
  • Fvascular endothelial growth factor receptor binding
  • Pcell differentiation
  • Pcell-cell signaling
  • Pinduction of positive chemotaxis
  • Ppositive regulation of cell division
  • Ppositive regulation of cell population proliferation

221 aa · 25 kDa · 4 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Immune signallingGO
View supporting evidence

Immune signalling

  • ·positive regulation of mast cell chemotaxis
View underlying pathways (2)

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

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

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.

KDRFLT1FLT4NRP1NRP2VEGFBFN1TEKNTRK1PDGFRBPGF

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

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

1

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.

aflibercept
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Placenta growth factor inhibitor

Appears in clinical studies involving macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusion, colorectal cancer, choroidal neovascularization

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

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

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

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.

diabetic macular edema0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

wet macular degeneration0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

macular retinal edema0.98

Clinical · overall 0.60

retinal vein occlusion0.97

Clinical · overall 0.59

choroidal neovascularization0.96

Clinical · overall 0.59

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

colorectal cancer0.56

Clinical

diabetic retinopathy0.54

Clinical

macular degeneration0.47

Clinical

age-related macular degeneration0.44

Clinical

neoplasm0.41

Literature

Show all associations
diabetic macular edema0.60
wet macular degeneration0.60
macular retinal edema0.60
retinal vein occlusion0.59
choroidal neovascularization0.59
colorectal cancer0.56
diabetic retinopathy0.54
macular degeneration0.47
age-related macular degeneration0.44
neoplasm0.41

Open Targets ranks 954 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 · 3 total

CONBERCEPTPhase 3

diabetic macular edema · choroidal neovascularization · macular retinal edema

AFLIBERCEPTApproval

macular degeneration · retinal vein occlusion · colorectal cancer

TB-403Phase 2

brain glioblastoma · neoplasm · ovarian cancer

Tractability

SM · Structure with LigandAB · Advanced ClinicalAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMPR · Small Molecule BinderOC · Approved Drug

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.

Show remaining trials (24)

COMPLETED · via aflibercept · NCT02441816

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

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.

diabetic macular edemaModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.590.90
Clinical99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

wet macular degenerationModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.580.89
Clinical98%Literature2%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

macular retinal edemaModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.580.89
Clinical99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

retinal vein occlusionModerately supported
0.73
agreement 0.570.88
Clinical99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.59 · 2 independent evidence families

choroidal neovascularizationModerately supported
0.73
agreement 0.570.88
Clinical97%Literature3%

Open Targets aggregate 0.59 · 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 underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

22

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.

  1. Regulatory approval2025-09-15

    Approval: Eyluxvi (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  2. Regulatory approval2025-08-18

    Approval: Mynzepli (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  3. Regulatory approval2025-08-18

    Approval: Afiveg (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  4. Regulatory approval2025-08-14

    Approval: Vgenfli (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  5. Regulatory approval2025-08-14

    Approval: Eiyzey (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  6. Regulatory approval2025-02-12

    Approval: Eydenzelt (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  7. Regulatory approval2025-01-13

    Approval: Baiama (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  8. Regulatory approval2025-01-13

    Approval: Ahzantive (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  9. Regulatory approval2024-11-13

    Approval: Afqlir (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  10. Regulatory approval2024-11-13

    Approval: Opuviz (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via aflibercept

  11. Product recall2024-05-15

    Recall (Class II): AFLIBERCEPT

    fda · safety · fda · via aflibercept

  12. New publication2024-04-16
    First-Line LV5FU2 with or without Aflibercept in Patients with Non-Resectable Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Randomized Phase II Trial (PRODIGE 25-FFCD-FOLFA).

    Cancers · 2024 · 1 citation · Europe PMC · via aflibercept

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.