Establishment and validation of immune microenvironmental gene signatures for predicting prognosis in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

•Immune score was related to clinical characteristics of patients with HNSCC.•TP53 mutation was immunosuppressive in head and neck tumor microenvironment.•Functional analysis of microenvironmental gene module showed an immune activation status in HNSCC.•Immune microenvironmental gene signatures associated with an improved prognosis value in patients with HNSCC.