{"entity":{"id":"icos","kind":"target","name":"ICOS","aka":["inducible T cell costimulator","Inducible T-cell costimulator","AILIM","CD278"],"tldr":"ICOS (Inducible T-cell costimulator) is a gene. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response.","summary":"Stimulatory receptor expressed in activated or antigen-experienced T-cells that plays an important role in the immune response. Upon binding to its ligand ICOSL expressed on antigen presenting cells (APCs), delivers costimulatory signals that enhances all basic T-cell responses to a foreign antigen, namely proliferation, secretion of lymphokines including IL10, up-regulation of molecules that mediate cell-cell interaction, and effective help for antibody secretion by B-cells. Also acts as a costimulatory receptor critical for the differentiation of T follicular regulatory cells upon immune challenges such as viral infection.\n\nOpen Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.61 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes clinical 0.30, affected pathway 0.61, literature 0.97, genetic association 0.64, animal model 0.32).","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:5351","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:5351"},{"label":"UniProt Q9Y6W8","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q9Y6W8/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 29851","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/29851"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000163600","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000163600"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["open-targets"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"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 0.30. Evidence tier \"clinical-evidence\" is the strongest of those signals.","Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts (CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC, UniProt)","editedOn":"2026-09-23"},"symbol":"ICOS","role":["drug-target"],"evidenceTier":"clinical-evidence","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:5351","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:5351","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt Q9Y6W8","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q9Y6W8/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000163600","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000163600/associations","note":"association with cancer (MONDO_0004992) 0.61;  (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:5351","ensembl":"ENSG00000163600","uniprot":"Q9Y6W8","entrez":"29851","biology":"Stimulatory receptor expressed in activated or antigen-experienced T-cells that plays an important role in the immune response. Upon binding to its ligand ICOSL expressed on antigen presenting cells (APCs), delivers costimulatory signals that enhances all basic T-cell responses to a foreign antigen, namely proliferation, secretion of lymphokines including IL10, up-regulation of molecules that mediate cell-cell interaction, and effective help for antibody secretion by B-cells. Also acts as a costimulatory receptor critical for the differentiation of T follicular regulatory cells upon immune challenges such as viral infection. Mechanistically, potentiates TCR-induced calcium flux by augmenting PLCG1 activation and actin remodeling. In addition, activates PI3K signalling pathways independently of calcium flux. Essential both for efficient interaction between T and B-cells and for normal antibody responses to T-cell dependent antigens. Location: Cell membrane; Secreted (UniProt). Locus 2q33.2 (HGNC).","whereFound":[],"targetClass":"other","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/icos/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"open-targets","kind":"collection","name":"Open Targets Platform","route":"/collections/open-targets/"}]}}