Autophagy inhibition in LGALS9-overexpressing nasopharyngeal carcinoma unleashes immune response.

When cells within our bodies begin to exhibit tumor-specific antigens, a specialized group of immune cells, known as immune effector cells, plays a crucial role in mounting both innate and adaptive immune responses. Cancer cells are notorious for developing strategies to hide from, suppress, and manipulate the immune system, collectively known as immune evasion. In the paper by Kam et al. the authors propose that intratumoral cell-associated, as opposed to secreted, LGALS9 (galectin 9) suppresses the activation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in a macroautophagy/autophagy-dependent manner in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell lines.Abbreviations: CTL: cytotoxic T lymphocyte; NPC: nasopharyngeal carcinoma.