In liver cancer infiltrating CD8+ T cells, the thymocyte selection-associated high mobility group box protein (Tox), a master transcription factor of T cell exhaustion,23 was shown to exert a nonconventional function of binding with PD-1 in the cytoplasm and facilitating PD-1 recycling.24 Whether Tox also regulates PD-1 recycling in other contexts has not been tested. The gene discussed is TOX; the disease is liver cancer.