Nannini G, Meoni G, Tenori L, Ringressi MN, Taddei A, Niccolai E, Baldi S, Russo E, Luchinat C, Amedei A. Fecal metabolomic profiles: A comparative study of patients with colorectal cancer vs adenomatous polyps. World J Gastroenterol 2021; 27(38): 6430-6441 [PMID: 34720532 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i38.6430]
Reader's ID:
06137409
Submitted on:
October 15, 2021, 01:13
Reader Expertise:
Reader’s expertise on the topic of the manuscript
Conflicts-of-Interest Statement:
Does the reader have a conflict of interest?
Reader Comment Standards for Published Articles:
1 Title
Does the title reflect the main subject/hypothesis of the manuscript?
2 Abstract
Does the abstract summarize and reflect the work described in the manuscript?
3 Key Words
Do the key words reflect the focus of the manuscript?
4 Background
Does the manuscript adequately describe the background, present status and significance of the study?
5 Methods
Does the manuscript describe methods (e.g., experiments, data analysis, surveys, and clinical trials, etc.) in adequate detail?
6 Results
Are the research objectives achieved by the experiments used in this study?
Has the study made meaningful contributions towards research progress in this field?
7 Discussion
Does the manuscript interpret the findings adequately and appropriately, highlighting the key points concisely, clearly and logically?
Are the findings and their applicability/relevance to the literature stated in a clear and definite manner?
Is the Discussion accurate and does it discuss the paper’s scientific significance and/or relevance to clinical practice sufficiently?
8 Illustrations and Tables
Are the figures, diagrams and tables sufficient, good quality and appropriately illustrative of the paper contents?
Do figures require labeling with arrows, asterisks, etc., or better legends?
9 Biostatistics
Does the manuscript meet the requirements of biostatistics?
10 Units
Does the manuscript meet the requirements of use of SI units?
11 References
Does the manuscript appropriately cite the latest, important and authoritative references in the Introduction and Discussion sections?
Does the author self-cite, omit, incorrectly cite and/or over-cite references?
12 Quality of manuscript organization and presentation
Is the manuscript concisely and coherently organized and presented?
Are the style, language and grammar accurate and appropriate?
13 Ethics statements
For all manuscripts involving human studies and/or animal experiments, author(s) must submit the related formal ethics documents that were reviewed and approved by their local ethical review committee. Did the manuscript meet the requirements of ethics?
Scientific Quality:
The overall quality of the manuscript, based on the above-listed criteria, should be evaluated and classified according to the following five categories
Language Quality:
Language quality (style, grammar, and spelling) should be evaluated and classified according to the following five categories.
Reader Comments:
I am a professor in the field of digestive system cancer research, and have been mainly engaged in the discovery of colorectal cancer biomarkers and genomics research.More recently, interest has focused on gut microbiota and metabolites.More and more studies have shown that the imbalance of intestinal flora may be an important reason for the occurrence of tumors, so looking for different flora is an important direction for early warning of tumors.On the other hand, some effective drugs can also play a therapeutic role by regulating the microflora, which is also expected to become more and more drug targets.
Reply from the Editorial Office:
Thank you very much for your comments.
Reader's ID:
03727704
Submitted on:
October 14, 2021, 22:00
Reader Expertise:
Reader’s expertise on the topic of the manuscript
Conflicts-of-Interest Statement:
Does the reader have a conflict of interest?
Reader Comment Standards for Published Articles:
1 Title
Does the title reflect the main subject/hypothesis of the manuscript?
2 Abstract
Does the abstract summarize and reflect the work described in the manuscript?
3 Key Words
Do the key words reflect the focus of the manuscript?
4 Background
Does the manuscript adequately describe the background, present status and significance of the study?
5 Methods
Does the manuscript describe methods (e.g., experiments, data analysis, surveys, and clinical trials, etc.) in adequate detail?
6 Results
Are the research objectives achieved by the experiments used in this study?
Has the study made meaningful contributions towards research progress in this field?
7 Discussion
Does the manuscript interpret the findings adequately and appropriately, highlighting the key points concisely, clearly and logically?
Are the findings and their applicability/relevance to the literature stated in a clear and definite manner?
Is the Discussion accurate and does it discuss the paper’s scientific significance and/or relevance to clinical practice sufficiently?
8 Illustrations and Tables
Are the figures, diagrams and tables sufficient, good quality and appropriately illustrative of the paper contents?
Do figures require labeling with arrows, asterisks, etc., or better legends?
9 Biostatistics
Does the manuscript meet the requirements of biostatistics?
10 Units
Does the manuscript meet the requirements of use of SI units?
11 References
Does the manuscript appropriately cite the latest, important and authoritative references in the Introduction and Discussion sections?
Does the author self-cite, omit, incorrectly cite and/or over-cite references?
12 Quality of manuscript organization and presentation
Is the manuscript concisely and coherently organized and presented?
Are the style, language and grammar accurate and appropriate?
13 Ethics statements
For all manuscripts involving human studies and/or animal experiments, author(s) must submit the related formal ethics documents that were reviewed and approved by their local ethical review committee. Did the manuscript meet the requirements of ethics?
Scientific Quality:
The overall quality of the manuscript, based on the above-listed criteria, should be evaluated and classified according to the following five categories
Language Quality:
Language quality (style, grammar, and spelling) should be evaluated and classified according to the following five categories.
Reader Comments:
I was a doctoral student in the Third Hospital of Peking University. During my graduate study, I published the following articles as the first author.
Liu J, Lin SR, Li ZP, et al. Free amino acid profiling of gastric juice as a method for discovering potential biomarkers of early gastric cancer. Int J Clin Exp Pathol 2018; 11(5):2323-2336.（SCI，2017 IF: 1.396）
Liu J, Lin SR, Li ZP, et al. A novel gastric juice index model for detecting early gastric cancer. Int J Clin Exp Med 2017; 10(10):14425-14435.（SCI，2016 IF: 1. 069）
Like the author of this article, I am also interested in metabolomics. The difference between us is that the type of specimen involved in my study is gastric juice, and the disease I study is gastric cancer. However, the type of specimen involved in the author's study is feces, and the disease studied by the author is colorectal cancer. The same thing is that the diseases we are studying belong to the category of gastrointestinal tumors. The incidence rate and mortality rate are very high, which will have a great impact on human health, which will bring heavy burden to patients and society. Our research philosophy is the same, that is, we compare the concentration differences of the above indicators among patients with gastrointestinal tumors, patients with benign gastrointestinal lesions and healthy subjects by detecting the content of small molecular metabolites in human body fluids or secretions. Through comparison, we can find the differential metabolites among the above subjects. These differential metabolites often have high diagnostic efficiency and are expected to become new tumor markers for early diagnosis and screening. Interestingly, we all found that there were significant differences in amino acid metabolism in body fluids or secretions between patients with gastrointestinal tumors, patients with benign gastrointestinal lesions and healthy subjects. For example, valine, tyrosine and leucine were the same differential metabolites in our study. Aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis pathway is the same differential metabolic pathway in our study. This suggests that the above amino acids and amino acid metabolic pathways play an important role in the occurrence and development of gastrointestinal tumors. Further in-depth and detailed research on it is expected to have a deeper understanding of the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal tumors, which will help us find new drug intervention targets to prevent disease progression. In conclusion, looking for new biomarkers for diagnosis, efficacy evaluation and prognosis from the perspective of metabolism has opened up a new way for the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal tumors.
Reply from the Editorial Office:
First, thank you very much for your professional comments on the article published in World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Second, we read your comments with great interest. You are welcome to format your valuable comments into a Letter to the Editor and submit it online to World Journal of Gastroenterology at https://www.f6publishing.com. There are no restrictions on the number of words, figures (color, B/W) or authors for a Letter to the Editor. In addition, the article processing charge will be exempted for this Letter to the Editor. As with all articles published by the Baishideng Publishing Group, the Letter to the Editor will be published online after completing peer review. The guidelines for a Letter to the Editor can be found at: https://www.wjgnet.com/bpg/GerInfo/219.
Finally, we look forward to receiving your high-quality Letter to the Editor, which will promote academic communication and lead the development of this discipline.