Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 7, 2026; 32(25): 118842
Published online Jul 7, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.118842
Published online Jul 7, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.118842
FOLH1 as a novel biomarker for risk stratification in gastric intestinal metaplasia
Shan He, Pharmacological Laboratory, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100016, China
Xiao-Fei Guo, Yuan Wang, Jian-Qi Bai, Jian-Peng Wang, Yang-Yi Shi, Ping Zhang, Department of Pathology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100016, China
Jun-He Shi, NMPA Key Laboratory for Clinical Research and Evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100091, China
Jing Yuan, Department of Pathology, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Wei Wei, Yang Yang, Department of Gastroenterology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100016, China
Xiao-Hua Shi, Wei-Xun Zhou, Department of Pathology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing 100730, China
Yao Feng, Dan Lu, Institute of Systems Biomedicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, NHC Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Tumor Systems Biology, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Xia Ding, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 102488, China
Wei Gao, Department of Pathology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, China
Co-first authors: Shan He and Xiao-Fei Guo.
Co-corresponding authors: Wei-Xun Zhou and Ping Zhang.
Author contributions: He S write the original draft; Guo XF performed the methodology and data analysis; Bai JQ, Wang JP, Feng Y, Lu D, and Shi YY performed the methodology; Shi JH and Wang Y performed the validation; Yuan J, Ding X, Gao W, Yang Y, Wei W, Shi XH, Lu D, and Zhou WX contributed the supervision; Zhang P contributed the supervision and funding acquisition; He S and Guo XF equally contributed to this manuscript as they are co-first authors; Zhang P and Zhou WX equally contributed to corresponding this manuscript, as they are co-corresponding authors.
Supported by the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. WJYY-XZKT-2023-07; and the National Key Research and Development Program of China, No. 2023YFC3503600.
Institutional review board statement: All studies were approved by the Ethics Committee of Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (No. WJEC-KT-2023-046-P001).
Informed consent statement: All patients signed the informed consent statement.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: Not applicable.
Corresponding author: Ping Zhang, MD, Full Professor, Department of Pathology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 6 Huajiadi Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100016, China.
Received: January 13, 2026
Revised: February 24, 2026
Accepted: March 25, 2026
Published online: July 7, 2026
Processing time: 169 Days and 6.2 Hours
Revised: February 24, 2026
Accepted: March 25, 2026
Published online: July 7, 2026
Processing time: 169 Days and 6.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: In this study, digital spatial profiling was used to identify differentially expressed genes between progressive and nonprogressive gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM). Among 14 candidate genes, FOLH1 showed the most significant difference. Validation in 60 patients using immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent staining confirmed that low FOLH1 expression strongly predicted progression, with excellent 4 diagnostic accuracy, establishing FOLH1 as a novel biomarker for risk stratification in GIM.