The invention provides methods to modulate hypoxia-mediated tumor immunity by administration of an O2 carrier polypeptide (e.g., an H-NOX protein). The methods of the invention target both hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) pathways and non-HIF-1α pathways of tumor immunity. Such methods are useful in the treatment of a wide variety of cancers and may be used alone or in combination with other anti-cancer therapies.