PDK4 and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: The visualization revealed that Homeobox D10 (HOXD10), High Mobility Group AT-Hook 2 (HMGA2), and Thy-1 cell surface antigen (THY1) exhibited the highest expression with log2FC = 2.851, 2.54, and 2.374 respectively (log2FC value higher than 1.5), On the contrary, Ubiquitin-like protein 3 (UBL3), Angiomotin (AMOT), and Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) revealed a low expression profile in HNSCC, with log2FC values of -1.211, -1.761, and − 2.549, respectively (log2FC value lower than 1).