IRF9 and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Growth factor-related genes are also associated with tumor metastasis, among which LTα, TNFRSF12α, TNFRSF25, TNFRSF4, and IRF9 can mediate HNSCC tumorigenesis and metastasis through the NF-κB signaling pathway (Schreiber et al., 2012; Lauenborg et al., 2015; Nan et al., 2018; Qiu et al., 2018).