P16 is consistently upregulated in high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) and carcinomas driven by high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV), triggered by HPV E6 and E7 proteins (Leeman et al., 2020; Nicolás et al., 2020; Rakislova et al., 2020). Here, CDKN2A is linked to squamous cell intraepithelial neoplasia.