Chen F, Wu SS, Chen C, Zhou C. Dynamic changes and clinical value of lipocalin 2 in liver diseases caused by microbial infections. World J Hepatol 2024; 16(2): 177-185 [PMID: 38495277 DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v16.i2.177]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Cheng Zhou, MD, Associate Professor, State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China. zhoucheng0113@zju.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Infectious Diseases
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Hepatol. Feb 27, 2024; 16(2): 177-185 Published online Feb 27, 2024. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v16.i2.177
Dynamic changes and clinical value of lipocalin 2 in liver diseases caused by microbial infections
Feng Chen, Shan-Shan Wu, Chao Chen, Cheng Zhou
Feng Chen, Shan-Shan Wu, Chao Chen, Cheng Zhou, State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China
Co-first authors: Feng Chen and Shan-Shan Wu.
Author contributions: Chen F and Zhou C contributed to the concept and design of the whole study; Chen F prepared the draft; Chen F and Zhou C wrote and revised the manuscript; Chen C contributed to drawing the figure; All authors contributed to preparing, reading, and approving the final manuscript; Chen F and Wu SS have been working together on the research of LCN2; Wu SS participated in the conception of the paper and was instrumental and responsible for the comprehensive literature search, figure plotting, preparation and submission of the current version of the manuscript; Chen F and Wu SS have made crucial and indispensable contributions to the publication of this manuscripts as the co-first authors.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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: Cheng Zhou, MD, Associate Professor, State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China. zhoucheng0113@zju.edu.cn
Received: August 28, 2023 Peer-review started: August 28, 2023 First decision: November 20, 2023 Revised: December 4, 2023 Accepted: January 9, 2024 Article in press: January 9, 2024 Published online: February 27, 2024
Abstract
Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) plays a pivotal role in iron metabolism, particularly in the context of microbial infection resistance (e.g., viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.). LCN2 combats microbial infection by directly assisting the body in competing with microorganisms for iron, inducing immune cells to secrete various cytokines to enhance systemic immune responses, or recruiting neutrophils to infectious sites. The liver serves as the primary organ for LCN2 secretion during microbial infections. This review encapsulates recent advances in dynamic changes, clinical values, and the effects of LCN2 in infectious liver diseases caused by various microbial microorganisms.
Core Tip: Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) is a sensitive marker for infections because its change can be detected at the very early stage of various pathogenic microorganism infections. Infection with a variety of pathogens can cause liver damage, and it is well established that LCN2 is expressed differently in different clinical conditions. By observing the level of LCN2, doctors can evaluate the progression of the disease and the treatment efficacy. LCN2 is also a predictor marker in some end-stage liver diseases and is promising as a new diagnostic marker. Due to its strong binding with iron, targeting LCN2 also shows great potential in the treatment of infectious diseases.
