In the univariate analysis (Table 4), a high percentage of Galectin-9+ tumour cells (p = 0.004), a low percentage of CD8+ lymphocytes (p = 0.005) and a high percentage of Foxp3+ lymphocytes (p = 0.004) in the recurrent tumour microenvironment as well as in the advanced stages of recurrent NPC (p < 0.001) were identified as significant risk factors for relapse-free survival. The gene discussed is LGALS9; the disease is nasopharyngeal carcinoma.