Ingredient intelligence
Adapalene
Retinoid · Adapalene (regulated as a drug in many regions) · C28H28O3
Adapalene is a synthetic naphthoic-acid retinoid that binds retinoic acid with relative selectivity for RAR-beta and RAR-gamma. It is regulated as a medicine in many jurisdictions and is included here for mechanistic context only.
Any underlined term can be tapped for an everyday-English translation.
Molecular identity
- Formula
- C28H28O3
- Molecular weight
- 412.5 g/mol
- PubChem CID
- 60164
- ChEBI
- Data unavailable
Biological targets
Retinoic acid receptor beta (RARB)
high confidenceactivates · receptor
binding characterised in pharmacology studies.
UniProt P10826Retinoic acid receptor gamma (RARG)
high confidenceactivates · receptor
UniProt P13631Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)
low confidencemodulates · receptor
Reported reduction of TLR2-mediated signalling in models.
UniProt O60603
How could this ingredient interact with biology?
Biological network
Ingredient → molecule → target → gene/protein → pathway → process → studied outcome. Relationship strength is drawn from the curated confidence tier; nothing is added to make the chain look complete.
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5 lower-confidence relationships are hidden at this filter level. Use “Show more biology” to include them.
Text alternative for this network
- Adapalene is molecule Adapalene — high confidence
- Adapalene activates Retinoic acid receptor beta (RARB) — high confidence
- Adapalene activates Retinoic acid receptor gamma (RARG) — high confidence
- Retinoic acid receptor beta (RARB) encoded by RARB — high confidence
- Retinoic acid receptor gamma (RARG) encoded by RARG — high confidence
- RARB participates in Nuclear receptor transcription pathway — high confidence
- RARG participates in Nuclear receptor transcription pathway — high confidence
- RARB participates in Keratinocyte differentiation — medium confidence
- RARG participates in Keratinocyte differentiation — medium confidence
- Nuclear receptor transcription pathway associated with Epidermal turnover — high confidence
- Keratinocyte differentiation associated with Epidermal turnover — medium confidence
- Nuclear receptor transcription pathway associated with Follicular keratinisation — medium confidence
- Keratinocyte differentiation associated with Follicular keratinisation — medium confidence
- Epidermal turnover studied in Studied for comedonal and inflammatory acne endpoints in clinical trials — high confidence
- Follicular keratinisation studied in Studied for comedonal and inflammatory acne endpoints in clinical trials — medium confidence
Biological pathways
Nuclear receptor transcription pathway
high confidenceRetinoid-bound /RXR heterodimers act as factors at retinoic acid response elements.
Reactome R-HSA-383280
Keratinocyte differentiation
medium confidenceAltered programme in the epithelium is the classical described for retinoid comedolysis.
Gene Ontology GO:0030216
Evidence engine
Limited
Mostly mechanistic, animal or single-study evidence.
Skinceptor Evidence Index
44
experimental · of 100
This index is a research-navigation aid describing how much evidence exists and how it was produced. It is not a medical safety score, an efficacy guarantee, or a clinical recommendation.
Study composition
- Randomised controlled trial1
- In-vitro1
- Total studies
- 2
- Human studies
- 1
- Largest sample
- 297
- Range
- 1996–1998
Index breakdown
- Study design quality57% × 28%
Mean design weight across curated studies (meta-analysis 1.0, RCT 0.9, other human 0.7, review 0.45, animal 0.35, in-vitro 0.25).
- Human evidence share33% × 22%
Proportion of curated evidence measured in people rather than cells or animals.
- Evidence volume50% × 14%
Log-scaled count of curated studies, so volume alone cannot dominate the score.
- Largest sample size82% × 12%
Log-scaled largest reported sample size across curated human studies.
- Replication33% × 12%
Independent human studies, capped at three; one study is never treated as replicated.
- Recency0% × 7%
Linear decay over a twenty-year window from the most recent curated publication.
- Source traceability0% × 5%
Share of curated studies with a verified PMID or DOI in this dataset.
Insufficient comparable evidence for quantitative synthesis.
Research timeline
How the evidence accumulated
1996
Adapalene 0.1% gel versus tretinoin 0.025% gel in acne vulgaris: a randomised trial
Randomised controlled trialn = 297 · British Journal of Dermatology
1998
Retinoid receptor selectivity of adapalene and downstream keratinocyte transcription
In-vitrosample size unavailable · Skin Pharmacology and Applied Skin Physiology
Ingredient fingerprint
16 nodes · 28 relationships · seed "adapalene"
The fingerprint is a deterministic visual signature: ridge amplitude comes from the number of entities in each tier, node placement from identifier hashes, and opacity from confidence. Two ingredients can never produce the same figure unless their networks are identical.
Open in Biology as Art →Research
2 curated studies
Retinoid receptor selectivity of adapalene and downstream keratinocyte transcription
Reported preferential RAR-beta and RAR-gamma binding with associated changes in keratinocyte differentiation markers.
Limitations — Cell models only; identifier not verified during curation.
Adapalene 0.1% gel versus tretinoin 0.025% gel in acne vulgaris: a randomised trial
Reported comparable lesion-count reduction with adapalene and tretinoin, with less irritation in the adapalene group.
Limitations — Acne endpoints only, not photoageing; identifier not verified during curation.
Community evidence
Submitted by readers
Reader submissions appear here only after review. They are not part of the curated dataset and do not affect the Skinceptor Evidence Index.
No approved community submissions yet.
Sources
- PubChem 60164Verified 2026-09-14
- UniProt P10826Verified 2026-09-14
- Reactome R-HSA-383280Verified 2026-09-14
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