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DicTACtionary

A living glossary of induced proximity science — keeping track of the ever-growing family of TAC degraders and the terminology that surrounds them. Suggest additions any time.

The TAC family & degraders

Modalities that harness induced proximity.

Auto-RapTAC

Automated Rapid Synthesis and Evaluation of PROTAC Reference →

BromoTAG

Bump and hole bromodomain degradation Tag Reference →

CORTAC

Covalently-Released Targeting Chimera

CYpHER

Catalytic pH-Dependent Endolysosomal Delivery with Recycling Reference →

CyTAC™

Cytotoxicity Targeting Chimera

Degradomer

Proteolysis-targeting chimera bifunctional molecule Reference →

ERADEC

Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Degradation Chimera Reference →

GRIP

GRoup-transfer chimeras for Inducing Proximity Reference →

HEMTAC

Heat Shock Protein 90 (HSP90)-mediated targeting chimeras Reference →

HerTAC

(HER2)-targeted lysosome-tethering chimeras Reference →

Interdictor

Context-dependent translation inhibitor glue Reference →

MGI

Molecular Glue Inhibitor

MoDE

Molecular Degraders of Extracellular proteins Reference →

Nano-PROTAC

Semiconducting polymer backbone PROTAC Reference →

OligoTRAFTACs

Oligo Transcription Factor Targeting Chimera Reference →

PepTAC

Peptide-based proteolysis TArgeting Chimeras Reference →

PHIC

Phosphorylation-Inducing Chimeric Small Molecule Reference →

PhosphoPROTAC

Phospho-dependent proteolysis targeting chimeras Reference →

RELOTAC

RElocalization Targeting Chimera

REULR

Receptor Elimination by E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Recruitment Reference →

RIPTAC

Regulated Induced Proximity Targeting Chimera Reference →

SDIPTAC

Self-dimerization Induced Proximity Targeting Chimera Reference →

SELDEG

Selective degradation of antigen-specific antibodies Reference →

SignalTAC

Signal-Mediated Lysosome-Targeting Chimera Reference →

SNIPER

Specific and Non-Genetic IAP-Dependent Protein Eraser Reference →

SP-PROTAC

Stapled peptide-based proteolysis-targeting chimeras Reference →

Supra-LYTAC

Supramolecular Lysosome-Targeting Chimera Reference →

SureTAC

Surface Removal Targeting Chimera

SWEETS

Surrozen Wnt Signal Enhancer Engineered for Tissue Specificity Reference →

TAPTAC

Triple-Action Proteolysis Targeting Chimera Reference →

TCIP

Transcriptional Chemical Inducer of Proximity Reference →

TRACER

Transcriptional Repression via Active Chemical Epigenetic Reprogramming Reference →

TRAM

Targeted relocalization-activating molecules Reference →

Tricomplex Inhibitor

CYPA:drug:KRAS molecular glue inhibitor Reference →

TRIM-Away

Antibody-mediated degradation using TRIM21 Reference →

TRIP

Transcriptional/Remodeling chemical Inducers of Proximity Reference →

Trivalent PROTAC

Triple ligand proteolysis targeting chimera Reference →

VIPERTAC

Viral E3 Pan-essential removing targeting chimera Reference →

Induced-proximity concepts

The vocabulary behind the modalities.

Induced proximity

The unifying idea: using a chemical or biologic to force two biomolecules together to drive a programmed outcome — degradation, stabilization, modification, or relocalization.

Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD)

A therapeutic strategy that removes a protein rather than merely inhibiting its activity, expanding the "druggable" proteome to scaffolding and undruggable targets.

Targeted Protein Stabilization (TPS)

The converse of TPD — deliberately increasing a protein's level or half-life, for example with a DUBTAC.

Ternary complex

The three-body assembly (target · degrader · effector, e.g. target–PROTAC–E3) that must form for a bifunctional molecule to act.

Cooperativity (α)

A measure of how much the ternary complex is stabilized (positive cooperativity) or destabilized (negative) relative to the two underlying binary interactions.

Hook effect

Loss of ternary-complex formation at high degrader concentration, as binary complexes outcompete the productive ternary one — producing a characteristic bell-shaped dose–response.

E3 ubiquitin ligase

The enzyme that transfers ubiquitin onto a substrate. Degraders co-opt E3s such as CRBN, VHL, MDM2, and the IAPs to mark new targets.

CRBN & VHL

Cereblon and von Hippel–Lindau — the two most widely used E3 recruiters in degrader design, each with well-characterized small-molecule ligands.

Neo-substrate

A protein that is not a natural client of an E3 ligase but is recruited and degraded thanks to a molecular glue or PROTAC.

Event-driven pharmacology

Activity that depends on a transient event (such as ubiquitin transfer) rather than sustained target occupancy — the basis for catalytic, sub-stoichiometric action.

Catalytic / sub-stoichiometric

A single degrader molecule can drive many rounds of target degradation, in contrast to occupancy-driven inhibitors that act one-to-one.

Linkerology

The art of tuning the chemical tether that joins the two warheads of a bifunctional degrader; linker length and composition strongly shape ternary complex formation and potency.

Degron

A sequence or chemical mark that directs a protein toward the degradation machinery.

DC50 / Dmax

Core potency metrics for degraders — the concentration giving 50% degradation, and the maximum extent of degradation achieved.

Spotted a missing term?

The induced proximity field moves fast and this glossary grows with it. If a modality or term is missing, let us know and we'll add it.

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