TGFB1 and neoplasm: Moreover, TGF-β has been shown to promote tumor progression in HNSCC through mechanisms, such as impeding dendritic cell (DC) maturation (Wrzesinski et al., 2007), inhibiting natural killer (NK) cytotoxic effects (Klöss et al., 2015), and affecting TME-associated immunosuppressive cells (Pang et al., 2018).