# KIF18A

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/kif18a/  
OnCo record `kif18a` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

KIF18A is a motor protein that keeps chromosomes lined up during cell division. Tumour cells with unstable chromosome numbers depend on it while normal cells largely do not, which is the case for the KIF18A inhibitors now in early trials.

## Summary

KIF18A (chromosome 11p14.1) is a microtubule-depolymerising kinesin that damps chromosome movements during division so they line up at the spindle equator (UniProt Q8NI77). A 2021 Nature Communications study found KIF18A is required for proliferation of chromosomally unstable cells derived from triple-negative breast and colorectal tumours but not of near-diploid cells; inhibiting it caused mitotic delays, multipolar spindles and cell death in the unstable cells (Marquis et al., doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21447-2). In OnCo, ATX-295 is a KIF18A inhibitor in a phase 1 trial including ovarian and non-small cell lung cancer.

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-11-03
- Also known as: kinesin family member 18A; kinesin-8
- Tags: pipeline-gap-target
- Symbol: KIF18A
- Class: other
- Biology: Plus-end-directed kinesin-8 motor that shortens kinetochore microtubules, reducing chromosome oscillations before anaphase (UniProt Q8NI77).
- Where found: Chromosomally unstable tumours, including cell lines from triple-negative breast and colorectal cancer (doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21447-2); Ovarian and non-small cell lung cancer (ATX-295 trial)

## Notes

- Prevalence not recorded: HGNC, UniProt and the paper cited give no positivity rate.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:29441: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:29441
- UniProt Q8NI77: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q8NI77/entry
- NCBI Gene 81930: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/81930
- Chromosomally unstable tumor cells specifically require KIF18A for proliferation (Nat Commun 2021): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21447-2

## Connected records

- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Ovarian cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/ovarian/), [Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)](https://onco.cc/cancers/tnbc/)
- drugs: [ATX-295](https://onco.cc/drugs/atx-295/), [Sovilnesib](https://onco.cc/drugs/sovilnesib/), [VLS-1488](https://onco.cc/drugs/vls-1488/)
- companies: [Volastra Therapeutics](https://onco.cc/companies/volastra-therapeutics/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/kif18a.json