In cancer, HLA‐E expression has been correlated with poor prognosis in patients with glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), among others (van Montfoort et al, 2018; Hiraoka et al, 2020; Wu et al, 2020), a fact that is indicative of the potential of the HLA‐E‐NKG2A pathway as a target for immunotherapeutic interventions (Andre et al, 2018). The gene discussed is KLRC1; the disease is head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.