This secreted splice variant of PD-L1 was independently identified in a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with a human papilloma virus integration in the PDL1 locus upstream of the transmembrane domain-encoding region, as described by Hassounah et al. in “Identification and characterization of an alternative cancer-derived PD-L1 splice variant”, which is being copublished with our work. The gene discussed is CD274; the disease is head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.