PBK is differentially expressed between cancer and normal tissues and modulates radiosensitivity in tumors, suggesting that patients can be treated with radiotherapy (Pirovano et al., 2017); and a recent retrospective analysis showed that PBK expression was negatively correlated with the prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with radiotherapy (Yu et al., 2021). The gene discussed is PBK; the disease is oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.