Overview
This page describes our REST web services which are designed to provide computational access to the data in the Guide to PHARMACOLOGY. The web services currently serve up JSON files, though we will look at extending the range of options in the future. You can retrieve families, targets, genes, ligands, interactions and text annotations.
The GtoPdb web service base URL (base_url) is https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/ and points to the current version of the web services API. The API will be updated in accordance with normal database release cycles to accommodate new data types as required.
Specific services may be accessed by appending the correct portion of the URL as given below in the tables. Optional parameters can be included by appending a question mark (?) to the end of the service name and separating parameters with ampersand (&), e.g. https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/targets/290/interactions?affinityType=pKi&species=Human. Users can read a description of the web services output in the GtoPdb Web Service Output Description file
The Guide to PHARMACOLOGY database is licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) and its contents are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Further information may be obtained by emailing us. We are particularly keen to hear from people using the web services and have feedback.
Version 2.0
The second version of our web services was released on
Python wrapper
pyGtoP provides a Python interface to the web services, which is available on GitHub. Full documentation is available here. The Python wrapper was created as part of another project and is not actively maintained, however please email us with any questions or bug reports and we'll do our best to help.
Target web services
| Service | URL | Parameters |
| List of targets | {base_url}/targets | type (optional): The target class abbreviation, i.e. 'GPCR', 'NHR', 'LGIC', 'VGIC', 'OtherIC', 'Enzyme', 'CatalyticReceptor', 'Transporter', 'OtherProtein', 'AccessoryProtein' name (optional): search for targets by name geneSymbol (optional): a human, mouse or rat gene symbol ecNumber (optional): an Enzyme Commission (EC) number accession (optional): an external database accession number or Id database (optional): the name* of the database the accession number relates to (default = UniProt) immuno (optional): filter targets based on whether they are tagged in GtoImmuPdb (true or false) malaria (optional): filter ligands based on whether they are tagged in GtoMPdb (true or false)
|
| Single target | {base_url}/targets/{targetId} | targetId: a GtoPdb target Id |
| List of target families | {base_url}/targets/families | type (optional): target class abbreviation as above name (optional): search for families by name |
| Single family | {base_url}/targets/families/{familyId} | familyId: a GtoPdb family Id |
| Component subunits | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/subunits | |
| Complexes | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/complexes | |
| Synonyms | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/synonyms | |
| Gene and protein information | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/geneProteinInformation | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Database links | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/databaseLinks | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. database (optional): the name* of the database to retrieve links for |
| Natural/endogenous ligands | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/naturalLigands | |
| Interactions | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/interactions | type (optional): the type of ligand action, i.e. 'Activator', 'Agonist', 'Allosteric modulator', 'Antagonist', 'Antibody', 'Channel blocker', 'Gating inhibitor', 'Inhibitor', 'Subunit-specific' affinityParameter (optional): one of 'pA2', 'pEC50', 'pIC50', 'pKB', 'pKd', 'pKi' species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. affinity (optional): returned results must have affinity greater than this value, e.g. 7.5. ligandType (optional): the class of ligand, one of 'Synthetic organic', 'Metabolite', 'Natural product', 'Endogenous peptide', 'Peptide', 'Antibody', 'Inorganic', 'Labelled', 'INN' approved (optional): boolean which indicates if the interactions are for approved drugs only primaryTarget (optional): boolean which indicates whether results should only include interactions where the target is marked as the primary target |
| Rank order lists of ligands and other activators | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/rankOrder | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. These lists can contain details of substrates, endogenous ligands and other non-chemical activators (pH, heat etc.). The description field describes the list and the property field lists the ligands |
| Function | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/function | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Tissue distribution | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/tissueDistribution | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Functional assay | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/functionalAssay | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Gene expression and pathophysiology | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/geneExpressionPathophysiology | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Physiological consequences of altering gene expression | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/alteredExpression | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Xenobiotics influencing gene expression | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/xenobioticsGeneExpression | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Clinically-relevant mutations and pathophysiology | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/pathophysiology | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Diseases | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/diseases | |
| Variants | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/variants | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| PDB structures | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/pdbStructure | |
| Associated proteins | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/associatedProteins | |
| Ion selectivity | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/ionSelectivity | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Ion conductance | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/ionConductance | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Ion channel voltage dependence | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/voltageDependence | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| GPCR transduction mechanisms | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/transduction | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| NHR binding partners | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/bindingPartners | |
| NHR co-regulators | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/coregulators | |
| NHR target genes | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/targetGenes | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| NHR DNA binding sequence | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/dnaBinding | |
| Enzyme reaction | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/reactions | |
| Substrates | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/substrates | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Products | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/products | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Cofactors | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/cofactors | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Target comments | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/comments | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. database (optional): the name* of the database to retrieve links for |
| Immunological Processes | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/immunoProcesses | |
| Immunological Celltypes | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/immunoCelltypes | |
| Target contributing authors | {base_url}/targets/{targetId}/contributors | |
| Family contributing authors | {base_url}/targets/families/{familyId}/contributors | |
| Family NC-IUPHAR subcommittee | {base_url}/targets/families/{familyId}/subcommittee | |
| Family overview | {base_url}/targets/families/{familyId}/overview | |
| Family comments | {base_url}/targets/families/{familyId}/comments | |
| Family introduction | {base_url}/targets/families/{familyId}/introduction | |
| Introduction contributing authors | {base_url}/targets/families/{familyId}/introduction/contributors |
Ligand web services
| Service | URL | Parameters |
| List of ligands | {base_url}/ligands | type (optional): The ligand type, one of 'Synthetic organic', 'Metabolite', 'Natural product', 'Endogenous peptide', 'Peptide', 'Antibody', 'Inorganic', 'Approved', 'Withdrawn', 'Labelled', 'INN' name (optional): search for ligands by name geneSymbol (optional): a human, mouse or rat gene symbol accession (optional): an external database accession number or Id database (optional): the name* of the database the accession number relates to (default = PubChemCID) inchikey (optional): the ligand's InChIKey, or for backbone matches (other isomers) just provide the backbone part (the first 14 characters) lipinskyGt & lipinskyLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of Lipinsky's rules broken logpGt & logpLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the LogP molWeightGt & molWeightLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the molecular weight hBondAcceptorsGt & hBondAcceptorsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of hydrogen bond acceptors hBondDonorsGt & hBondDonorsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of hydrogen bond donors rotatableBondsGt & rotatableBondsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of rotatable bonds tpsaGt & tpsaLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the topological polar surface area immuno (optional): filter ligands based on whether they are tagged in GtoImmuPdb (true or false) malaria (optional): filter ligands based on whether they are tagged in GtoMPdb (true or false) antibacterial (optional): filter ligands based on whether they are tagged as antibacterial (true or false) |
| Exact match structure search | {base_url}/ligands/exact | smiles: a SMILES string to search |
| Substructure search | {base_url}/ligands/substructure | smiles: a SMILES string to search lipinskyGt & lipinskyLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of Lipinsky's rules broken logpGt & logpLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the LogP molWeightGt & molWeightLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the molecular weight hBondAcceptorsGt & hBondAcceptorsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of hydrogen bond acceptors hBondDonorsGt & hBondDonorsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of hydrogen bond donors rotatableBondsGt & rotatableBondsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of rotatable bonds tpsaGt & tpsaLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the topological polar surface area |
Structure similarity search | {base_url}/ligands/similarity | smiles: a SMILES string to search similarityGt (optional): lower cut-off for the % similarity (use decimal, i.e. 80% = 0.8) lipinskyGt & lipinskyLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of Lipinsky's rules broken logpGt & logpLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the LogP molWeightGt & molWeightLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the molecular weight hBondAcceptorsGt & hBondAcceptorsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of hydrogen bond acceptors hBondDonorsGt & hBondDonorsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of hydrogen bond donors rotatableBondsGt & rotatableBondsLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the number of rotatable bonds tpsaGt & tpsaLt (optional): lower and upper cut-offs for the topological polar surface area |
| List of ligand families/groups | {base_url}/ligands/families | name (optional): search for families/groups by name |
| Single ligand | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId} | ligandId: a GtoPdb ligand Id |
| Path to image file | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/image | |
| Ligand structure | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/structure | |
| Component subunits | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/subunits | |
| Complexes | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/complexes | |
| Precursors (endogenous peptides) | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/precursors | |
| Molecular properties (non-peptides) | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/molecularProperties | |
| Synonyms | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/synonyms | |
| Database links | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/databaseLinks | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. database (optional): the name* of the database to retrieve links for |
| Interactions | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/interactions | type (optional): the type of interaction, i.e. 'Activator', 'Agonist', 'Allosteric modulator', 'Antagonist', 'Antibody', 'Channel blocker', 'Gating inhibitor', 'Inhibitor', 'Subunit-specific' affinityParameter (optional): one of 'pA2', 'pEC50', 'pIC50', 'pKB', 'pKd', 'pKi' species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. affinity (optional): returned results must have affinity greater than this value, e.g. 7.5. asTarget (optional): boolean which indicates if this ligand Id should be considered as the target of interactions by other ligands, e.g. antibodies (default = true) asLigand (optional): boolean which indicates if this ligand Id should be considered as the ligand interacting with other targets (default = true) targetType (optional): name of a target class, i.e. 'GPCR', 'NHR', 'LGIC', 'VGIC', 'OtherIC', 'Enzyme', 'CatalyticReceptor', 'Transporter', 'OtherProtein' primaryTarget (optional): boolean which indicates whether results should only include interactions marked as primary targets |
| Rank order lists of ligands at targets | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/rankOrder | species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. |
| Ligand comments and clinical use information | {base_url}/ligands/{ligandId}/comments |
Interaction web services
| Service | URL | Parameters |
| List of interactions | {base_url}/interactions | type (optional): the type of ligand action, i.e. 'Activator', 'Agonist', 'Allosteric modulator', 'Antagonist', 'Antibody', 'Channel blocker', 'Gating inhibitor', 'Inhibitor', 'Subunit-specific' affinityParameter (optional): one of 'pA2', 'pEC50', 'pIC50', 'pKB', 'pKd', 'pKi' species (optional): the species common name, e.g. 'Human, 'Mouse', 'Rat' etc. Plasmodium species (optional): the species short name, e.g. For P. falciparum use 'Pf'; for P. vivax use 'Pv'; for P. knowlesi use 'Pk'; for P. berghei use 'Pb'; for P. cynomolgi use 'Pc'; for P. yoelii use 'Py' affinity (optional): returned results must have affinity greater than this value, e.g. 7.5. ligandType (optional): the class of ligand, one of 'Synthetic organic', 'Metabolite', 'Natural product', 'Endogenous peptide', 'Peptide', 'Antibody', 'Inorganic', 'Labelled', 'INN' approved (optional): boolean which indicates if the interactions are for approved drugs only primaryTarget (optional): boolean which indicates if the targets should be marked as primary targets only targetType (optional): name of a target class, i.e. 'GPCR', 'NHR', 'LGIC', 'VGIC', 'OtherIC', 'Enzyme', 'CatalyticReceptor', 'Transporter', 'OtherProtein' structureSearchType (optional): perform ligand structure-based searching, one of 'similarity' (the default if SMILES are provided), 'substructure' or 'exact' smiles (optional): a SMILES string to search similarityGt (optional): lower cut-off for the % similarity (default = 0.85) inchikey (optional): perform ligand structure search using an InChIKey, or for backbone matches (other isomers) just provide the backbone part (the first 14 characters) Note: the results are formatted as target-ligand interaction pair summaries, which are linked to individual interactions. |
| Single interaction | {base_url}/interactions/{interactionsId} | interactionId: a GtoPdb interaction Id |
Disease web services
| Service | URL | Parameters |
| List of diseases | {base_url}/diseases |
name (optional): search for diseases by name
synonym (optional): search specifically with disease synonyms
database (optional): the name* of the database the accession number relates to (default = OMIM)
accession (optional): an external database accession ID or number Note, this should be used in conjuction with the database parameter.
|
| Single disease | {base_url}/diseases/{diseaseId} | diseaseId: a GtoPdb disease Id |
| Targets associated with disease | {base_url}/diseases/{diseaseId}/diseaseTargets | diseaseId: a GtoPdb disease Id |
| Ligands associated with disease | {base_url}/diseases/{diseaseId}/diseaseLigands | diseaseId: a GtoPdb disease Id
approved (optional): set to 'true' to restrict to just approved ligands. Note, omitting this option, or setting to false will return all ligands |
Reference web services
| Service | URL | Parameters |
| List of references | {base_url}/refs | filter (optional): a filter for the reference list, currently 'interactions' is supported which returns a list of all references associated with target-ligand interactions Warning: the full reference list (>30,000 refs) is very slow to load. |
| Single reference | {base_url}/refs/{referenceId} | referenceId: a GtoPdb reference Id |
Examples
These are a few example use cases for the web services.
-
Retrieve the target with Ensembl gene Id ENSG00000097007:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/targets?accession=ENSG00000097007&database=EnsemblGene -
Retrieve the target encoded by HGNC gene symbol CATSPER4:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/targets?geneSymbol=CATSPER4 -
Search for the target with name HER3:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/targets?name=HER3 -
Find the subunits of 5-HT3AB (target Id 378):
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/targets/378/subunits -
Find agonists of GPER (target Id 221) with pKi >= 7:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/targets/221/interactions?type=Agonist&affinityType=pKi&affinity=7 -
Retrieve all the approved drugs:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/ligands?type=Approved -
Find synonyms for tamoxifen (ligand Id 1016) :
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/ligands/1016/synonyms -
Find ligands at least 80% similar to the structure CC(CN(C)C)CN1c2ccccc2Sc2ccccc12:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/ligands/similarity?smiles=CC(CN(C)C)CN1c2ccccc2Sc2ccccc12&similarityGt=0.8 -
Find ligands with the substructure Nc1cnc(Cl)c(N)n1 and calculated LogP between 0 and 2:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/ligands/substructure?smiles=Nc1cnc(Cl)c(N)n1&logpGt=0&logpLt=2 -
Find all the pKi interaction data for approved drugs at GPCRs:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/interactions?affinityType=pki&approved=true&targetType=GPCR -
Retrieve all diseases with OMIM database ID mapped:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/diseases?database=OMIM -
Retrieve all diseases mapped to Disease Ontology ID 6688 (Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative syndrome):
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/diseases?database=DOID&accession=6688 -
Retrieve all targets tagged in database as relevant to immunopharmacology (GtoImmuPdb):
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/targets?immuno=true -
Retrieve all ligands tagged in database as relevant to immunopharmacology (GtoImmuPdb):
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/ligands?type=immuno -
Retrieve all interaction data for Plasmodium species P. vivax:
https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/services/interactions?species=Pv
Databases
* This is a list of the database names to use when searching for targets or ligands by accession number. For more information about these databases see the help page.
| Database | Database name in GtoPdb | Target or ligand |
| BindingDB database of binding affinities | BindingDB | Ligand |
| BitterDB database of bitter compounds | BitterDB | Target |
| BRENDA database of enzyme reactions | BRENDA | Ligand |
| CAS Registry Number | CAS | Ligand |
| Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (ChEBI) | ChEBI | Ligand |
| ChEMBL medicinal chemistry database | ChEMBL | Target & Ligand |
| NCBI Database for Short Genetic Variations (dbSNP) | dbSNP | Target |
| Disease Ontology | DOID | Disease |
| DrugBank | DrugBank | Target & Ligand |
| Ensembl Gene | EnsemblGene | Target & Ligand |
| Ensembl Protein | EnsemblProtein | Target |
| Ensembl Transcript | EnsemblTranscript | Target |
| NCBI Entrez Gene | EntrezGene | Target & Ligand |
| GPCRDB | GPCRDB | Target |
| Human Metabolome Database (HMDB) | HMDB | Ligand |
| HGNC database of human gene names | HGNC | Target |
| IMGT/mAb-DB database of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies | IMGT | Ligand |
| LIPID MAPS Lipidomics Gateway | LipidMaps | Ligand |
| MEROPS peptidase database | MEROPS | Target |
| Mouse Genome Informatics | MGI | Target |
| Nuclear Receptor Signaling Atlas | NURSA | Target & Ligand |
| Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) | OMIM | Target & Ligand & Disease |
| Orphanet database of rare diseases | Orphanet | Target & Disease |
| NCBI Protein database GI numbers | ProteinGI | Target & Ligand |
| Protein Data Bank (PDB) | PDB | Ligand |
| PubChem Compound Id (CID) | PubChemCID | Ligand |
| NCBI RefSeq Nucleotide | RefSeqNucleotide | Target & Ligand |
| NCBI RefSeq Protein | RefSeqProtein | Target & Ligand |
| Rat Genome Database | RGD | Target |
| UniProtKB protein resource | UniProtKB | Target & Ligand |
| UniProtKB variant database | UniProtVariant | Target |
HTTP response codes
This is a listing of specific HTTP response error codes which can be returned by the GtoPdb web services and their meanings.
| HTTP response code | Meaning | Description |
| 204 | No content | An empty page and a 204 no content response usually mean there are no results to display for the given URL (i.e. no data in the requested database table). |
| 303 | See other | Redirection to an alternative location for the requested data (e.g. the path to a ligand image). |
| 404 | Not found | Either a resource with that address or an entity such as a ligand with the given identifier cannot be found. |
