Targets for therapy development include pre-exhausted tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells expressing inhibitory receptor NKG2A. NKG2A+ CD8 T cells abundantly present in lung tumors are associated with a poorer prognosis and response to immunotherapy, and blocking the inhibitory NKG2A receptor was shown to reactivate CD8 T cells and improve the impact of immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines127. The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is cancer.