Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2024; 30(21): 2777-2792
Published online Jun 7, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i21.2777
Transcriptome analysis suggests broad jejunal alterations in Linghu’s obesity-diarrhea syndrome: A pilot study
Xiao-Tong Niu, Xiang-Yao Wang, Yan Wang, Ke Han, Nan Ru, Jing-Yuan Xiang, En-Qiang Linghu
Xiao-Tong Niu, Ke Han, Jing-Yuan Xiang, Medical School of Chinese PLA, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Xiao-Tong Niu, Xiang-Yao Wang, Yan Wang, Ke Han, Nan Ru, Jing-Yuan Xiang, En-Qiang Linghu, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Yan Wang, School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Co-first authors: Xiao-Tong Niu and Xiang-Yao Wang.
Author contributions: Linghu EQ designed the research; Niu XT, Wang XY, Ru N and Xiang JY conducted the research; Niu XT, Wang Y and Han K analyzed the data; Niu XT and Wang XY wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript. Niu XT and Wang XY contributed equally to this work as co-first authors. The reasons for designating Niu XT and Wang XY as co-first authors are threefold. First, the research was performed as a collaborative effort, and the designation of co-first authorship accurately reflects the distribution of responsibilities and burdens associated with the time and effort required to complete the study and the resultant paper. This also ensures effective communication and management of post-submission matters, ultimately enhancing the paper's quality and reliability. Second, the overall research team encompassed authors with a variety of expertise and skills from different fields, and the designation of co-first authors best reflect this diversity. This also promotes the most comprehensive and in-depth examination of the research topic, ultimately enriching readers' understanding by offering various expert perspectives. Third, Niu XT and Wang XY contributed efforts of equal substance throughout the research process. The choice of these researchers as co-first authors acknowledges and respects this equal contribution, while recognizing the spirit of teamwork and collaboration of this study. In summary, we believe that designating Niu XT and Wang XY as co-first authors is fitting for our manuscript as it accurately reflects our team's collaborative spirit, equal contributions, and diversity.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the ethics committee of Chinese PLA General Hospital (No. S2022-677-01).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Dr. Linghu has nothing to disclose.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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: En-Qiang Linghu, MD, PhD, Chief Physician, Director, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China. linghuenqiang@vip.sina.com
Received: April 18, 2024
Revised: May 17, 2024
Accepted: May 20, 2024
Published online: June 7, 2024
Processing time: 45 Days and 21.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This study analyzed the transcriptomic characteristics of the jejunal mucosa in patients with Linghu’s obesity-diarrhea syndrome (ODS). The jejunal gene expression profile of obese people without diarrhea was similar to that of healthy controls. However, the jejunal gene expression profile of ODS patients showed significant changes, characterized by the up-regulation of nutrient absorption, digestion, and transport and the down-regulation of rRNA processing, mitochondrial translation, antimicrobial humoral response, DNA replication, and DNA repair. In addition, although intestinal barrier damage was present in all obese individuals, it appeared to be more severe in ODS patients.