There is increasing evidence suggesting the crucial role of BIRC5 in tumorigenesis, as it is overexpressed in various cancers such as breast cancer (Cao et al., 2023), oral squamous cell carcinoma (Cacına et al., 2023), benign meningioma (Maier et al., 2023), prostate cancer (Yu et al., 2023) and ovarian cancer (Li B. et al., 2023), thereby indicating a poor prognosis in cancer patients. The gene discussed is BIRC5; the disease is oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.