Immunotherapy, including immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (anti-PD-1/L1, anti-CTLA-4, etc.), chimeric antigen receptor macrophages (CAR-M), and anti-tumor-associated macrophages (anti-TAMs), has shown promise in treatment of HNSCC, but only a small percentage of HNSCC patients have sustained immune responses (Evrard et al., 2019; Malfitano et al., 2020; Cheng et al., 2021; Sloas et al., 2021; Fasano et al., 2022; Poulose and Kainickal, 2022). This evidence concerns the gene CTLA4 and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.