Glutamate transporter SLC1A6 promotes resistance to immunotherapy in cancer.

Background: Resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors remains a significant challenge in the treatment of cancer. Emerging evidence suggests that metabolic reprogramming plays a crucial role in tumor metabolism and progression. Our study strived to investigate the role and underlying mechanisms of the glutamate transporter SLC1A6 in resistance to immunotherapy of cancer.

Methods: Single-cell RNA sequencing was performed on bladder cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant immunotherapy to identify the expression of SLC1A6 in treatment-resistant cases. The clinical prognostic value of SLC1A6 in cancer was validated using publicly available lung cancer single-cell datasets, as well as transcriptomic data from both bladder and lung cancer cohorts. Flow cytometry was employed to assess the impact of SLC1A6 knockdown on the effector function of CD8⁺ T cell. In vivo tumor models were used to evaluate the role of SLC1A6 in immunotherapy resistance, with immunofluorescence staining performed to examine GZMB⁺ CD8⁺ T cell infiltration.

Results: SLC1A6 was highly expressed in bladder cancer patients resistant to neoadjuvant immunotherapy, and its expression was associated with disease progression, poor prognosis, and low immune infiltration. Knockdown of SLC1A6 in tumor cells enhanced CD8⁺ T cell effector function. SLC1A6 knockdown also improved the efficacy of immunotherapy and increased the infiltration of GZMB⁺ CD8⁺ T cells within the tumor microenvironment.

Conclusions: SLC1A6 plays a critical role in resistance to immunotherapy in cancer. Targeting SLC1A6 may provide a promising therapeutic strategy for improving responses to neoadjuvant immunotherapy and advancing combination treatment approaches.