Our retrospective TMA analysis of a cohort of curatively treated HNSCC patients strongly suggests that the expression level of the central DDR kinase ATM and the NHEJ kinase DNA-PKcs do not possess prognostic value in HNSCC irrespective of HPV-status and involvement of radiotherapy, in line with previous reports [7, 24, 27]. This evidence concerns the gene PRKDC and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.