Protein / target

Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 9

TNFRSF9Q07011Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinical-stage
Therapeutic maturity
2
Clinical candidates
9
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Structure with Ligand

Protein at a glance

Biological role

Signaling receptor activity

Strongest disease association

immunodeficiency 109 with lymphoproliferation

Genetic literature evidence · score 0.61

Therapeutic maturity

Clinical-stage target

2 candidates in clinical development

Druggability

Small molecule

Open Targets tractability · Structure with Ligand

Clinical development

2 in clinical development

9 linked trials

Research activity

Emerging research

2 papers · latest 2024

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function

Receptor for TNFSF9/4-1BBL. Conveys a signal that enhances CD8(+) T-cell survival, cytotoxicity, and mitochondrial activity, thereby promoting immunity against viruses and tumors (Probable)

Subcellular location

Cell membrane
Domains and Gene Ontology detail (6)

Gene Ontology

  • Cexternal side of plasma membrane
  • Cplasma membrane
  • Fsignaling receptor activity
  • Papoptotic process
  • Pnegative regulation of cell population proliferation
  • Pregulation of cell population proliferation

255 aa · 28 kDa

Biological roles

Reactome v97

What this protein does, drawn together from its UniProt function, Gene Ontology terms and Reactome pathways.

Apoptosis & cell deathGO
View supporting evidence

Apoptosis & cell death

  • ·apoptotic process
View underlying pathways (1)

Concepts derived from UniProt GO Reactome — each badge above shows which sources supported that role.

Interaction neighbourhood

STRING v12.0

Proteins with the strongest functional or physical association. Node size and line weight reflect STRING confidence; hover or select a partner to inspect one association.

TNFSF9TNFSF4CD247CD70TRAF1CD80LGALS9CD28LOC102…ICOSLGTNFRSF9

10 strongest partners — larger node and heavier line mean higher confidence

Functional and physical associations from STRING v12.0. Only associations with this protein are drawn — partner-to-partner links are not part of this evidence.

Drugs targeting this protein

1

Whether each drug engages this protein directly or through a complex, and how many other targets are recorded for it. Direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

urelumab
Narrow target profilePhase 2Agonist

Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 9 agonist

Appears in clinical studies involving B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, melanoma, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Direct interaction with this protein · Only this protein recorded as a target

ChEMBL mechanism, action type and target identity. Open Targets clinical status and indications.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically — disease associations, drugs in development, tractability and safety, from Open Targets.

Strongest genetic associations

Human genetic evidence — the most direct causal link between this target and a disease.

immunodeficiency 109 with lymphoproliferation0.61

Genetic literature · overall 0.52

hair color0.40

Genetic · overall 0.24

chronic venous hypertension0.39

Genetic · overall 0.24

hereditary disease0.31

Genetic · overall 0.19

osteoarthritis, knee0.25

Genetic · overall 0.15

Highest-confidence therapeutic associations

Diseases where a drug acting on this target has already reached clinical development.

diffuse large B-cell lymphoma0.23

Clinical · overall 0.14

melanoma0.17

Clinical · overall 0.12

breast cancer0.14

Clinical · overall 0.12

Highest overall evidence

Remaining associations by Open Targets' aggregated evidence score.

total joint arthroplasty0.15

Genetic

osteoarthritis, hip0.15

Genetic

Show all associations
immunodeficiency 109 with lymphoproliferation0.52
hair color0.24
chronic venous hypertension0.24
hereditary disease0.19
osteoarthritis, knee0.15
total joint arthroplasty0.15
osteoarthritis, hip0.15
diffuse large B-cell lymphoma0.14
breast cancer0.12
melanoma0.12

Open Targets ranks 622 associations for this target and we store the top 10 by aggregated score. The long tail is largely literature co-mention and RNA-expression evidence, not evidence that this target drives those diseases.

Known drugs · 2 total

URELUMABPhase 2

B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma · melanoma · B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

UTOMILUMABPhase 3

diffuse large B-cell lymphoma · oropharynx squamous cell carcinoma · breast cancer

Tractability

SM · Structure with LigandAB · Advanced ClinicalAB · GO CC high confAB · UniProt loc med confAB · UniProt SigP or TMHMMAB · Human Protein Atlas locPR · Database Ubiquitination

Clinical trials

9

Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein.

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

Research activity

2 papers · to 2024

Papers linked directly to this protein. This is the protein's own literature — descriptor-derived papers are kept separate below.

Most cited

Recent

Europe PMC papers linked directly to this protein.

Forefront confidence

Synthesis

Our own weighting of the evidence behind each disease association. Human genetics and clinical evidence count for most; literature co-mention counts for little, because two entities sharing an abstract is not evidence that one drives the other.

immunodeficiency 109 with lymphoproliferationModerately supported
0.64
agreement 0.510.76
Genetic83%Animal model17%Genetic literaturedup

Open Targets aggregate 0.52 · 2 independent evidence families · 1 not counted as duplicate

hair colorLimited support
0.40
agreement 0.280.52
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.24 · 1 independent evidence family

chronic venous hypertensionLimited support
0.39
agreement 0.270.51
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.24 · 1 independent evidence family

hereditary diseaseLimited support
0.31
agreement 0.170.45
Genetic99%Literature1%

Open Targets aggregate 0.19 · 2 independent evidence families

osteoarthritis, kneePreliminary
0.25
agreement 0.130.37
Genetic100%

Open Targets aggregate 0.15 · 1 independent evidence family

The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the underlying per-type scores are shown above so the calculation can be checked.

What's happening now

1

Recent activity around this target, drawn from one canonical event stream. Every item is reached through a drug that targets this protein, so each event is news about that drug rather than about the protein directly.

  1. New publication2016-10-18
    Results from an Integrated Safety Analysis of Urelumab, an Agonist Anti-CD137 Monoclonal Antibody.

    Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2017 · 313 citations · Europe PMC · via urelumab

Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.