Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 7, 2023; 29(37): 5313-5326
Published online Oct 7, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i37.5313
Leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor B2 overexpression as a promising therapeutic target and noninvasive screening biomarker for colorectal cancer
Qian-Qian Wang, Lei Zhou, Geng Qin, Chang Tan, Yuan-Chen Zhou, Shu-Kun Yao
Qian-Qian Wang, Chang Tan, Yuan-Chen Zhou, Shu-Kun Yao, Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University China-Japan Friendship School of Clinical Medicine, Beijing 100029, China
Lei Zhou, Department of General Surgery, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing 100029, China
Geng Qin, Department of Gastroenterology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing 100029, China
Author contributions: Wang QQ analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript; Tan C and Zhou YC collected samples and clinical data; Zhou L and Qin G provided guidance on experimental procedures; Yao SK supervised the study performance, revised the manuscript, and obtained the funding; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Key Development Plan for Precision Medicine Research, No. 2017YFC0910002.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of China-Japan Friendship Hospital (No. 2018-116-K85).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shu-Kun Yao, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University China-Japan Friendship School of Clinical Medicine, No. 2 Yinghua East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China. shukunyao@126.com
Received: June 15, 2023
Peer-review started: June 15, 2023
First decision: August 26, 2023
Revised: September 8, 2023
Accepted: September 14, 2023
Article in press: September 14, 2023
Published online: October 7, 2023
Processing time: 102 Days and 2.1 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

The incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer (CRC) have been rising continuously. CRC has become the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and the 5-year survival rate of patients with advanced CRC is below 20%.

Research motivation

Early screening and precise targeted therapy are very important to improve the prognosis of CRC patients. Therefore, identifying novel therapeutic targets and early screening biomarkers is urgent for clinical practice.

Research objectives

To explore whether leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor B2 (LILRB2) can be used as a potential therapeutic target and noninvasive screening biomarker for CRC.

Research methods

On the basis of previous proteomics, immunohistochemical staining was used to verify the expression of LILRB2 protein and its ligand angiopoietin-like protein 2 (ANGPTL2) protein in CRC cancer tissues and paired paracarcinoma tissues, and to explore the association between their expression and the clinicopathological features. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect serum LILRB2 concentration and explore the diagnostic efficacy for CRC.

Research results

LILRB2 protein is significantly overexpressed in CRC cancer tissues and is closely associated with peritumoral infiltration, distant metastasis and poor prognosis. LILRB2 may bind to the ligand ANGPTL2 protein, and the synergistic expression and interaction of the two proteins promotes CRC progression and metastasis. Serum LILRB2 concentration has high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in screening CRC, which is better than traditional carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9.

Research conclusions

Therefore, LILRB2 protein can be used as a potential novel therapeutic target and noninvasive screening biomarker.

Research perspectives

Novel LILRB2 protein is beneficial for early screening and precise treatment, which provides new opportunities to improve the prognosis of CRC patients.