Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies against programmed death protein 1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3) and CTL antigen 4 (CTLA-4) are FDA-approved for over 50 types of cancer, including melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, renal cell cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma (7, 8). Here, CD274 is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.