Treatment of HPV-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells with a combination of cisplatin and this new peptide synergistically increases cell mortality (Thomas et al., 2017), although the intrinsic link between E7-induced mitophagy and the inhibition of cGAS-STING during chemotherapy remains unclear. This evidence concerns the gene STING1 and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.