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Protein / target

Progesterone receptor

Encoded byPGRP06401Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
23
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Estrogen response element binding

Strongest disease association

Endometriosis

Via encoding gene PGR · Genetic evidence · score 0.48

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

Research activity

Emerging research

20 papers · latest 2025

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

The steroid hormones and their receptors are involved in the regulation of eukaryotic gene expression and affect cellular proliferation and differentiation in target tissues.

View complete UniProt function annotation

The steroid hormones and their receptors are involved in the regulation of eukaryotic gene expression and affect cellular proliferation and differentiation in target tissues. Depending on the isoform, progesterone receptor functions as a transcriptional activator or repressor

Subcellular location

NucleusCytoplasmMitochondrion outer membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (33)

Domains & features

NR LBD

Gene Ontology

  • Cchromatin
  • Ccytosol
  • Cmitochondrial outer membrane
  • Cnucleoplasm
  • Cnucleus
  • Cplasma membrane
  • FATPase binding
  • FDNA binding
  • FDNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • FDNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • Fenzyme binding
  • Festrogen response element binding

933 aa · 99 kDa · 5 isoforms

Biological roles

Reactome v97

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

Nuclear receptor signallingGO · ReactomeReceptor tyrosine kinase signallingReactomeTranscriptional regulationUniProt · GO · Reactome
View supporting evidence

Nuclear receptor signalling

  • ·nuclear receptor activity
  • ·nuclear receptor-mediated steroid hormone signaling pathway
  • ·HSP90 chaperone cycle for steroid hormone receptors (SHR) in the presence of ligand
  • ·Nuclear Receptor transcription pathway

Receptor tyrosine kinase signalling

  • ·Nuclear signaling by ERBB4

Transcriptional regulation

  • ·The steroid hormones and their receptors are involved in the regulation of eukaryotic ge…
  • ·DNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • ·DNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific
  • ·RNA polymerase II cis-regulatory region sequence-specific DNA binding
View underlying pathways (7)

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.

NCOA1NCOR1NCOR2HSP90A…NCOA3ERBB2HSP90A…FKBP4FKBP5ESR1PGR

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.

Approved medicines with mapped indications

3 medicines · 8 areas

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.

Uterine Hemorrhage2 medicines
Amenorrhea1 medicine
Carcinoma, Renal Cell1 medicine
Cushing's Syndrome1 medicine
Endometrial Hyperplasia1 medicine
Endometriosis1 medicine
Hyperplasia1 medicine
Broader indication categories (1)
Neoplasms1 medicine

Broad umbrella indications (e.g. “Neoplasms”). Shown here because every medicine also appears under a more specific disease above — kept for completeness, de-emphasised for clarity.

23 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 3 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

4

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.

Progesterone
Narrow target profileApprovedAgonist

Progesterone receptor agonist

Indicated for Amenorrhea, Endometrial Hyperplasia, Uterine Hemorrhage

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

Cyproterone Acetate
Narrow target profilePhase 3Agonist

Progesterone receptor agonist

Direct interaction with this protein · 1 of 3 recorded protein targets — narrow recorded profile

Medroxyprogesterone Acetate
Narrow target profileApprovedAgonist

Progesterone receptor agonist

Indicated for Carcinoma, Renal Cell, Endometriosis, Hyperplasia, Uterine Hemorrhage

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

Mifepristone
Narrow target profileApprovedAntagonist

Progesterone receptor antagonist

Indicated for Cushing's Syndrome

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 PGR

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene PGR that 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.

Endometriosis
0.87Well supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.67

Acne Vulgaris
0.74Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.60

View evidence synthesis (2)
EndometriosisWell supported
0.87
agreement 0.760.98
Clinical56%Genetic37%Literature7%

Open Targets aggregate 0.67 · 3 independent evidence families

Acne VulgarisModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.580.89
Clinical100%Literature0%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 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 per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations
Endometriosis0.67
Acne Vulgaris0.60

Drug development

31 compounds recorded · 23 approved · 7 in clinical development · 1 earlier-stage

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 4 drugs that target this protein in Forefront's canonical graph (3 with a mapped approved indication, shown above): these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (10)
MIFEPRISTONEApproval
ULIPRISTAL ACETATEApproval
TRIMEGESTONEApproval
LEVONORGESTRELApproval
NORGESTIMATEApproval
NORGESTRELApproval
NORETHINDRONEApproval
CYPROTERONE ACETATEPhase 3
HYDROXYPROGESTERONE CAPROATEApproval
NORELGESTROMINApproval

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 Structure with Ligand support this modality.

AntibodiesEmerging

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

Protein degradersEmerging

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

View underlying tractability evidence (9)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyAB · GO CC high confPR · UniProt UbiquitinationPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

ContraceptiveBrennan et al. (2024)receptor bindingToxCastregulation of steroid hormone biosynthetic processToxCastEmergency contraceptivesBrennan et al. (2024)induction of medical abortionBrennan et al. (2024)regulation of transcription factor activityToxCastregulation of steroid biosynthetic processToxCast

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)

RECRUITING · via Mifepristone · NCT05177510

UNKNOWN · via Progesterone · NCT05061641

UNKNOWN · via Mifepristone · NCT04458558

COMPLETED · via Mifepristone · NCT03320057

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

12

Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 3 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. Trial status changed2026-07-30

    A Multi-center, Open Label, Randomized Parallel Group Study Evaluating the Proportion of Women With Complete Resolution of Nonatypical Endometrial Hyperplasia Treated With Mirena or Oral Medroxyprogesterone Acetate for 6 Months

    Status changed to Withdrawn · ClinicalTrials.gov · via Medroxyprogesterone Acetate

  2. Supplemental approval2026-07-16

    Supplemental approval: PROGESTERONE (NDA022057)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Progesterone

  3. Label change2026-07-15

    Label change: PROGESTERONE (NDA022057)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Progesterone

  4. Product recall2024-07-26

    Recall (Class II): PROGESTERONE

    fda · safety · fda · via Progesterone

  5. New publication2024-04-23
    Diagnostic and therapeutic use of oral micronized progesterone in endocrinology.

    Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2024 · 15 citations · Europe PMC · via Progesterone

  6. New publication2023-10-28
    Mammary Microvessels are Sensitive to Menstrual Cycle Sex Hormones.

    Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2023 · 9 citations · Europe PMC · via Progesterone

  7. New publication2023-10-12
    Menstrual cycle hormones and oral contraceptives: a multimethod systems physiology-based review of their impact on key aspects of female physiology.

    Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023 · 75 citations · Europe PMC · via Progesterone

  8. New publication2023-09-01
    Anorexia nervosa and adrenal hormones: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

    European journal of endocrinology · 2023 · 9 citations · Europe PMC · via Progesterone

  9. New publication2023-08-01
    Menopausal hormone therapy and change in physical activity in the Women's Health Initiative hormone therapy clinical trials.

    Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · 2023 · 4 citations · Europe PMC · via Medroxyprogesterone Acetate

  10. Safety communication2020-06-29

    Drug Safety Update: Cyproterone acetate: new advice to minimise risk of meningioma

    mhra · safety · mhra · via Cyproterone Acetate

  11. Supplemental approval2016-06-16

    Supplemental approval: PROGESTERONE (NDA022057)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Progesterone

  12. Regulatory approval2007-06-21

    Approval: PROGESTERONE (NDA022057)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via Progesterone

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.

Research activity

20 papers · to 2025

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

Most cited

Hammond ME · Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2010

Liedtke C · Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2008

André F · The New England journal of medicine · 2019

Yin L · Breast cancer research : BCR · 2020

Hortobagyi GN · The New England journal of medicine · 2016

Recent

Biomarkers in breast cancer 2024: an updated consensus statement by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology and the Spanish Society of Pathology.

Colomer R · Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2024

Datopotamab Deruxtecan in Advanced or Metastatic HR+/HER2- and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Results From the Phase I TROPION-PanTumor01 Study.

Bardia A · Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2024

Hormone Receptor Signaling and Breast Cancer Resistance to Anti-Tumor Immunity.

Moisand A · International journal of molecular sciences · 2023

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.