HCC exhibits compensatory upregulation of coinhibitory checkpoints beyond PD-1/PD-L1, with TIM-3 demonstrating DHHC9-mediated palmitoylation that stabilizes membrane localization on tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T/NK cells, driving exhaustion and correlating with poor prognosis[96]. The gene discussed is HAVCR2; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.