We found significantly more CD8+PD-1+TCF1− Texterm than CD8+PD-1+TCF1+ Texprog in HNSCC tumor samples which were consistent with the mIHC results (Fig. 1d), whereas, in dLN, the proportion of TCF1+Texprog was significantly higher than that of TCF1−Texterm (Fig. 1e). Here, TCF7 is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.