Cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy has been established as first-line treatment in recurrent or metastatic HNSCC as EGFR is often hyperexpressed in this disease37,38, whereas standard-of-care regimens comprise of platinum-based doublet in combination with vinorelbine, gemcitabine or taxane for LUSC, and has remained largely unchanged over the past decades39. Here, EGFR is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.