{"entity":{"id":"glucocorticoid-receptor","kind":"target","name":"Glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1)","aka":[],"tldr":"The receptor that steroid hormones switch on inside cells. In lymphoid cancers, dexamethasone and prednisone acting through it kill malignant lymphocytes directly, which is why steroids sit inside leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma regimens as well as easing nausea and swelling.","summary":"The glucocorticoid receptor is a nuclear receptor that, once bound by cortisol or a synthetic steroid, moves into the nucleus and reprogrammes transcription. In lymphoblasts, plasma cells and lymphoma cells this programme is pro-apoptotic, so dexamethasone and prednisone are active anticancer drugs in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma, and dexamethasone is the partner of almost every myeloma combination. Loss of receptor function is a mechanism of steroid resistance in relapsed leukaemia. Steroids also treat the swelling around brain tumours, immune-related side effects, and chemotherapy-induced nausea, and prevent the hypersensitivity reactions of taxanes.","asOf":"2026-09-04","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucocorticoid_receptor","links":[{"label":"UniProt P04150: NR3C1","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P04150/entry"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["all-leukemia","multiple-myeloma","hodgkin-lymphoma","dlbcl"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["dexamethasone","prednisone"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"symbol":"NR3C1","role":[],"sources":[],"specificity":"broadly-expressed","distribution":"few-types","specificityNote":"Broadly expressed or essential: HPA finds the RNA at low tissue specificity; the 2 medicines aimed at it (Dexamethasone, Prednisone) act on the wild-type protein, so normal tissue is exposed and the therapeutic window comes from the tumour's faster division or its dependence on the protein. HPA NR3C1: RNA low tissue specificity; high antibody staining in 35 normal tissues; highest cancer staining renal cancer (10 of 12 high). Distribution: 3 cancer families in the corpus carry a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Leukaemia, Multiple myeloma, Lymphoma); Open Targets associates it with 5 specific cancer types at or above 0.5 (plasma cell myeloma, prostate cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, mycosis fungoides). (Rule 7 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas NR3C1 tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000113580-NR3C1/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000113580 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000113580/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:7978","ensembl":"ENSG00000113580","uniprot":"P04150","entrez":"2908","firstDescribed":1985,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Hollenberg S.M. et al, Nature, 1985, \"Primary structure and expression of a functional human glucocorticoid receptor cDNA\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2867473/","biology":"Ligand-activated nuclear receptor; in lymphoid cells its transcriptional programme induces apoptosis, the basis of steroid use in leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.","whereFound":["Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","Multiple myeloma","Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma","Supportive care across cancers"],"targetClass":"nuclear-receptor","prevalence":[{"cancerId":"all-leukemia","pct":"nearly all","measure":"Glucocorticoid receptor expressed in lymphoblasts; prednisone response is a prognostic marker","source":"https://www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia/hp/adult-all-treatment-pdq"}]},"route":"/targets/glucocorticoid-receptor/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"all-leukemia","kind":"cancer","name":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","route":"/cancers/all-leukemia/"},{"id":"dlbcl","kind":"cancer","name":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","route":"/cancers/dlbcl/"},{"id":"hodgkin-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Hodgkin lymphoma","route":"/cancers/hodgkin-lymphoma/"},{"id":"multiple-myeloma","kind":"cancer","name":"Multiple myeloma","route":"/cancers/multiple-myeloma/"}],"drug":[{"id":"dexamethasone","kind":"drug","name":"Dexamethasone","route":"/drugs/dexamethasone/"},{"id":"prednisone","kind":"drug","name":"Prednisone","route":"/drugs/prednisone/"}]}}