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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1582587

This article is part of the Research Topic Harnessing Big Data for Precision Medicine: Revolutionizing Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies View all 36 articles

The Suppressive Role of GLS in Radiosensitivity and Irradiation-Induced Immune Response in LUAD: Integrating Bioinformatics and Experimental Insights

Provisionally accepted
Peicheng Jiang Peicheng Jiang 1Zhifeng Jiang Zhifeng Jiang 2Su Li Su Li 3,4Ye-Xiong Li Ye-Xiong Li 1*Yuqiong Chen Yuqiong Chen 5*Xinyan Li Xinyan Li 1*
  • 1 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology and Department of Radiation Oncology, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Beijing, China
  • 2 Department of Liver Surgery & Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University; Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China
  • 3 Department of Cardiology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Shanghai, China
  • 4 National Clinical Research Center for Interventional Medicine, Shanghai, China
  • 5 Department of Cardiology, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Gusu School, Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Radiotherapy elicits immune activation, thereby synergistically enhancing systemic tumor control when combined with immunotherapy. Glutaminase (GLS), a key enzyme for glutamine metabolism, has been found to regulate glutamine availability within tumor microenvironment (TME).However, the precise mechanisms through which GLS modulates radiosensitivity and irradiationinduced immune responses in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and its clinical value remain to be fully elucidated.We employed bulk RNA-seq and single-cell transcriptomics to explore the role of GLS expression in radiosensitivity and immune infiltration. The bioinformatic results were validated by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Co-culture assays and flow cytometry were used to validate the impact of GLS expression on CD8 + T cell activation and cytotoxicity. Moreover, a GLS-DSBr (double strand break repair) prognostic model was developed using machine learning with data from 2,066 LUAD patients.In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that GLS silence inhibited DSB repair and promoted ferroptosis, therefore enhancing radiosensitivity. Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics revealed the immunomodulatory effects of GLS expression in the TME. Further, Co-culture assays and flow cytometry experiments indicated that silencing GLS in LUAD cells potentiated the activation and cytotoxicity of CD8 + T cells in the context of radiotherapy. The GLS-DSBr model demonstrated robust predictive performance for overall survival, as well as the efficacy of radiotherapy and immunotherapy in LUAD. The applicability of GLS-DSBr model was further validated through pan-cancer analysis.In the contexts of radiotherapy, GLS downregulation exerts dual regulatory effects by modulating ferroptosis and remodeling the immune landscapes, particularly enhancing CD8 + T cell cytotoxicity. Our work suggests that strategies preferentially targeting GLS in tumor cells may represent promising and translatable therapeutic approaches to promote antitumor efficacy of radiotherapy plus immune checkpoint blockade in LUAD patients. Furthermore, the established GLS-DSBr model serves as a robust predictive tool for prognosis and effects of radiotherapy and immunotherapy, which assists personalized treatment optimization in LUAD.

    Keywords: glutamine metabolism, lung cancer, Immunity, Tumor Microenvironment, Prognostic model

    Received: 24 Feb 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Jiang, Jiang, Li, Li, Chen and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Ye-Xiong Li, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology and Department of Radiation Oncology, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Beijing, China
    Yuqiong Chen, Department of Cardiology, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Gusu School, Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, China
    Xinyan Li, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology and Department of Radiation Oncology, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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