Interestingly, evaluating the expression of the top-1 signature defined for buffy coat (SRSF3 and TRA2A proteins from the signature ‘CD11b_Protein, CD11b_Pep3, SRSF3_Pep1, and TRA2A_Pep2’; linear discriminant; AUC = 0.953) (Fig. 6d–f) strengthened the paramountcy of the myeloid lineage, especially neutrophils, in the metastatic phenotype of HNSCC (Fig. 2b). Here, TRA2A is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.