PDCD1 and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Early success of programmed cell death 1 inhibitors in recurrent or metastatic HNSCC, demonstrated in trials such as KEYNOTE-048 and CheckMate 141, established the efficacy of ICIs in advanced disease and paved the way for their investigation in earlier stages of treatment.4,6 Subsequently, multiple studies8 have evaluated the role of neoadjuvant immunotherapy.