Compared with normal head and neck tissues such as thyroid gland, nasopharynx, oral tissue or salivary gland, the protein expression levels of CES1, CSTA and FDCSP genes were decreased in HNSCC (Supplementary Figure 8B–8F, 8H–8J, 8L, 8M), which is consistent with the RNA expression levels in TCGA (Supplementary Figure 8A, 8G and 8K). The gene discussed is CSTA; the disease is head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.