To test our hypothesis, we here treated two HPV positive and two HPV negative HNSCC cell lines with RT, docetaxel or a combination of both and consecutively analyzed tumor cell death forms, release of the DAMPs HSP70 and HMGB1, the surface expression of several ICMs and finally the activation of DCs by the treated tumor cells. Here, HMGB1 is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.