The Role of Leukocyte Immunoglobulin Receptor B2 Overexpression as a Novel Biomarker and Potential Therapeutic Agent for Colorectal Cancer View PDF

According to the most recent global cancer statistics, CRC has become the third most common malignant tumor in the world. The disease has a high incidence rate, a poor prognosis at advanced stages, and ranks second in cancer-related deaths. The implementation of population-based CRC screening, such as fecal occult blood tests and endoscopy, has, however, significantly improved overall survival rates and enhanced prospects for cures. Several researchers like Dr. Wang have written an excellent case-control study that we have carefully read [1]. To begin with, this study discusses the worldwide incidence of CRC, its prognosis, and the challenges associated with currently available treatments. As a result of previous proteomic investigations, the team discovered the LILRB2 protein. It is proposed that LILRB2 could be used as a biomarker for CRC as well as a therapeutic agent. A substantial number of patients with CRC who had undergone curative surgery were collected as part of the experimental section [2]. Serological tests, immunohistochemistry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and other experimental approaches were used to compare LILRB2 expression levels across different populations. A comparison was also made between this tumor marker and traditional tumor markers in terms of detection [3]. Finally, the study summarizes the results of the experiments and makes recommendations for future research. For mutual validation, flow cytometry analysis was used in conjunction with traditional immunohistochemical staining methods. In this way, the findings of the experiment are effectively confirmed [4]. In addition, the researchers used gene platforms for online analysis of differentially expressed genes and mRNAs between normal and cancer tissues, which added to the protein-level experiments. Using tissue from the CRC and tissues adjacent to the CRC, the researchers compared the levels of expression of the LILRB2 protein [5]. Additionally, they examined the correlation between LILRB2 mRNA expression and angiopoietin like protein 2 (ANGPTL2) mRNA expression in CRC tissues, as well as the correlation between LILRB2 protein expression and ANGPTL2 protein expression. A comparison was also made between LILRB2 and traditional tumor markers using serum samples. Congratulations on the compelling findings of the research team [6]. LILRB2 and its ligand ANGPTL2 were examined in detail for their role in the occurrence and development of CRC. In terms of this article, there are a few questions that require further consideration. Between 2021 and 2023,in a study the researchers collected 324 serum samples. CRC patients provided 132 preoperative serum samples, 91 postoperative serum samples, 87 adenoma patients provided 87 serum samples, and 14 healthy controls provided 14 serum samples. Following this, the researchers compared serum LILRB2 concentrations among patients with CRC, patients with adenoma, and healthy controls. They found statistically significant differences in LILRB2 concentrations between these three groups. Although the number of serum samples from CRC patients (197 samples) and health controls (15 samples) differ significantly, we would like to draw your attention to this disparity. The results of this research may be biased due to potential data bias [7]. Furthermore, patients with normal colonoscopy may be included in the health control group based on too broad criteria. To establish detailed inclusion criteria for healthy controls, we believe it is necessary to define detailed criteria. Research findings in this article suggest that LILRB2 mRNA expression in CRC patients is not correlated with overall survival or progression free survival. However, overexpression of the LILRB2 protein is significantly associated with reduced overall survival in CRC patients, suggesting that the LILRB2 protein plays a pro-cancer role [8]. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind these findings would be gained by further in-depth studies. We noticed that no mention is made in the article regarding baseline data processing for the participants. T he omission raises concerns about the potential introduction of bias into the research results, which may impact on the truthfulness and validity of the findings [9-11].

LILRB2 has primarily been studied in relation to hematopoietic stem cells and bone marrow immune cells. CRC has received less attention in previous studies. In these cells, LILRB2 is associated with inflammatory responses and cell proliferation processed. AML, CLL, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and breast cancer are also enriched for LILRB2. Since elevated serum levels of LILRB2 can be found in various solid tumor types, LILRB2 cannot be considered a specific tumor marker for CRC. Therefore, we understand that LILRB2 protein was significantly overexpressed in cancer tissues compared to paracancerous tissues [12]. As the ligand of LILRB2, ANGPTL2 was synergistically overexpressed in CRC tissues, and the overexpression of these proteins was related to poor differentiation, vascular involvement, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, advanced tumor-node-metastasis stage and poor prognosis, suggesting that LILRB2 and ANGPTL2 are closely linked to the progression of CRC [13].