Hypoxia-induced autophagy in melanoma cells leads to STAT3-mediated suppression of the tumor-lysing function of cytotoxic T cells, while inhibiting melanoma autophagy restores CTLs’ function through ubiquitin proteasome system and SQSTM1/p62 involved down-regulation of phospho-STAT3. Here, SQSTM1 is linked to neoplasm.