Bioinformatics analysis of TCGA-HNSC datasets revealed significant DDR1 overexpression in HNSCC patients, correlating with adverse prognosis and inverse associations with cytotoxic immune markers (CD8B, GZMB, IFNG and IL12B) and lymphocyte infiltration scores, suggesting that DDR1 played a key role in inducing progression and immune escape in HNSCC. Here, CD8B is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.