
Metabolic processes are crucial in immune regulation, yet the impact of metabolic heterogeneity on immunological functions remains unclear. Integrating metabolomics into immunology allows the exploration of the interactions of multilayered features in the biological system and the molecular regulatory mechanism of these features. To elucidate such insight in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), we analyzed 106 LUSC tumor tissues. We performed high-resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to obtain spatial metabolic profiles, and immunohistochemistry to detect tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs). Unsupervised k-means clustering and Simpson's diversity index were employed to assess metabolic heterogeneity, identifying five distinct metabolic tumor subpopulations. Our findings revealed that TILs are specifically associated with metabolite distributions, not randomly distributed. Integrating a validation cohort, we found that heterogeneity-correlated metabolites interact with CD8+ TIL-associated genes, affecting survival. High metabolic heterogeneity was linked to worse survival and lower TIL levels. Pathway enrichment analyses highlighted distinct metabolic pathways in each subpopulation and their potential responses to chemotherapy. This study uncovers the significant impact of metabolic heterogeneity on immune functions in LUSC, providing a foundation for tailoring therapeutic strategies.
Male, Lung Neoplasms, metabolic tumor subpopulation, FOS: Clinical medicine, Immunology, Humans; Lung Neoplasms/immunology; Lung Neoplasms/metabolism; Lung Neoplasms/pathology; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/immunology; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/metabolism; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/genetics; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/immunology; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/metabolism; Male; Female; Middle Aged; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Aged; Metabolomics/methods; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/metabolism; Immunology; Spatial metabolomics; lung cancer; metabolic heterogeneity; metabolic tumor subpopulation, Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens, metabolic heterogeneity, RC581-607, Middle Aged, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, lung cancer, Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating, Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization, Carcinoma, Squamous Cell, Humans, Metabolomics, Female, Spatial metabolomics, Immunologic diseases. Allergy, RC254-282, Original Research, Aged
Male, Lung Neoplasms, metabolic tumor subpopulation, FOS: Clinical medicine, Immunology, Humans; Lung Neoplasms/immunology; Lung Neoplasms/metabolism; Lung Neoplasms/pathology; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/immunology; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/metabolism; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/genetics; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/immunology; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/metabolism; Male; Female; Middle Aged; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Aged; Metabolomics/methods; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/metabolism; Immunology; Spatial metabolomics; lung cancer; metabolic heterogeneity; metabolic tumor subpopulation, Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens, metabolic heterogeneity, RC581-607, Middle Aged, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, lung cancer, Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating, Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization, Carcinoma, Squamous Cell, Humans, Metabolomics, Female, Spatial metabolomics, Immunologic diseases. Allergy, RC254-282, Original Research, Aged
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