We next assessed the expression of the identified DEGs (n=437) including the 8 B-cell-related genes GGA2, SPIB, CD200, ADAM28, BCL2, VCAM1, ICOSLG and STAG3, in an independent HNSCC dataset from TCGA (TCGA HNSC HiSeqV2 2015-02-24 data source outlined in methods) [11]. Here, STAG3 is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.