In tonsil and laryngeal cancers, the immune escape mechanism mediated by KLRK1 and its ligands ULBP1-3 may competitively inhibit KLRK1, owing to insufficient expression/immune cell infiltration of KLRK1 or sufficient secretion of soluble NKG2DLs by tumor cells. Here, KLRK1 is linked to laryngeal carcinoma.