Previous studies have corroborated these findings suggesting that MYC activation leads to the enrichment of immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment such as regulatory T-cells, along with the exclusion of CD8+ T-cells and NK cells, in several tumor types including HNSCC, and supported by reports of differential metastasis response to immune checkpoint inhibitors with MYC amplification31,36,70. Here, CD8A is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.