# HMGCR

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/hmgcr/  
OnCo record `hmgcr` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

HMGCR (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase) is an enzyme. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response.

## Summary

Catalyses the conversion of (3S)-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) to mevalonic acid, the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of cholesterol and other isoprenoids, thus plays a critical role in cellular cholesterol homeostasis. HMGCR is the main target of statins, a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.51 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes literature 0.98, animal model 0.39, genetic association 0.39, clinical 0.68).

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase; 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase
- Tags: cancer-genes-wave
- Symbol: HMGCR
- Class: enzyme
- Biology: Catalyses the conversion of (3S)-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) to mevalonic acid, the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of cholesterol and other isoprenoids, thus plays a critical role in cellular cholesterol homeostasis. HMGCR is the main target of statins, a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs. Location: Endoplasmic reticulum membrane; Peroxisome membrane (UniProt). Locus 5q13.3 (HGNC).

## Notes

- Written by scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts from CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC and UniProt; the function text is UniProt's, condensed and in UK spelling. Roles: Open Targets known-drug datatype score 0.68. Evidence tier "clinical-evidence" is the strongest of those signals.
- Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:5006: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:5006
- UniProt P04035: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P04035/entry
- NCBI Gene 3156: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/3156
- Ensembl ENSG00000113161: https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000113161

## Connected records

- collections: [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/hmgcr.json