Together with a multidisciplinary, international team, former IBC2 Team Leader Lina Herhaus (now at Helmholtz HZI) and IBC2 Director Ivan Đikić found a new role for the so-far uncharacterized GTPase family Q protein (IRGQ).

IRGQ acts within the autophagy-lysosome system, targeting misfolded MHC-I molecules for degradation. The team revealed that absence of IRGQ enhanced CD8+ T cell responses. Accordingly, reduced IRGQ levels in hepatocellular carcinoma patients and mouse models lead to improved survival outcomes by promoting anti-tumour immunity. This discovery highlights the potential of IRGQ as a target for future cancer therapies. This work was carried out in an international collaboration together with colleagues from Goethe University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Max Planck Institute of Biophysics and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and now published online in Cell.