Importantly, recent HNSCC studies17,18 suggest that other characteristics of the intratumoral CD8+ T lymphocytes, such as their location within the tumor, PD-1 expression, as well as the expression of HLA-class I, SCINDERIN and EPHRIN-A1 in the tumor cells might have a strong impact on the prognostic value of the CD8+ T cells. Here, CD8A is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.