ACSS2 in pan-cancer context: multi-omics insights into metabolic reprogramming and immunotherapy response

ACSS2, a key member of the acyl-CoA synthetase short-chain family, plays a critical role in tumor metabolic reprogramming by regulating fatty acid synthesis, histone acetylation, and lactyl-CoA production. However, its immunomodulatory functions and prognostic significance across cancers remain poorly characterized. Using multiple databases such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), and cBioPortal, we comprehensively analyzed ACSS2's pan-cancer associations with clinical survival, genomic profiles, tumor stemness, functional enrichment, single-cell heterogeneity, immune infiltration, immune checkpoints, immunotherapy responsiveness, and drug sensitivity. Our analyses revealed pronounced ACSS2 dysregulation across tumors, with elevated expression correlated with poor prognosis in multiple cancers. Genomic profiling identified copy number amplifications as the predominant ACSS2 alteration, with missense and truncating mutations constituting key functional impact variants. ACSS2 expression was negatively correlated with DNA methylation levels. Notably, ACSS2 expression showed significant associations with tumor genomic features, stemness indices, immune cell infiltration, immune regulators. These findings underscore its potential as an immune checkpoint-predictive biomarker. Single-cell resolution analysis further delineated cancer type-specific correlations between ACSS2 and immune cell spatial distribution. Crucially, ACSS2 expression demonstrated predictive value for anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy responsiveness, highlighting its clinical relevance in immunotherapy stratification. This study elucidates the pivotal role of ACSS2 in carcinogenesis and tumor progression through metabolism-immune interaction within the tumor microenvironment (TME). Our findings not only provide a theoretical foundation for establishing a prognostic evaluation system based on metabolic features but also highlight the potential value of ACSS2 as a pan-cancer prognostic biomarker and combination therapy target.