Serpin B9

Serpin B9 is best known as proteinase inhibitor 9 (PI9), the principal intracellular inhibitor of granzyme B. Expressed broadly but most abundantly in lymphoid tissue, germinal centers and antigen-presenting cells, PI9 safeguards cytotoxic lymphocytes, dendritic cells and bystander cells from granzyme B-driven apoptosis during immune surveillance. Structurally distinctive among human serpins, it carries an acidic P1 glutamate that matches the substrate preference of granzyme B. Overexpression of PI9 in lymphomas, leukemias and virus-infected cells enables tumors to evade cytotoxic killing, making it a focus of immuno-oncology research and a candidate resistance marker for CAR-T and NK-cell therapies.