Through univariate Cox regression analysis and K–M survival analysis, 19 out of the 206 DELMRGs were identified as closely related to HNSCC patient OS in the training set (P < 0.05), and the K–M curve generated based on ELOVL6 expression showed the most significant survival differences between the high- and low-risk groups (P = 0.001; Table 1). Here, ELOVL6 is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.