Cui X, Liang Z. Concerns regarding lipid metabolism, immune regulation, and methodology in a study on esophageal cancer lymph node metastasis. World J Gastrointest Surg 2025; 17(11): 112124 [DOI: 10.4240/wjgs.v17.i11.112124]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xu Cui, PhD, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Fujian Children's Hospital (Fujian Branch of Shanghai Children's Medical Center), College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University, No. 18 Daoshan Road, Fuzhou 350011, Fujian Province, China. 16802937@qq.com
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Oncology
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Letter to the Editor
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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/
Nov 27, 2025 (publication date) through Nov 25, 2025
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Publication Name
World Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery
ISSN
1948-9366
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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Cui X, Liang Z. Concerns regarding lipid metabolism, immune regulation, and methodology in a study on esophageal cancer lymph node metastasis. World J Gastrointest Surg 2025; 17(11): 112124 [DOI: 10.4240/wjgs.v17.i11.112124]
World J Gastrointest Surg. Nov 27, 2025; 17(11): 112124 Published online Nov 27, 2025. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v17.i11.112124
Concerns regarding lipid metabolism, immune regulation, and methodology in a study on esophageal cancer lymph node metastasis
Xu Cui, Zheng Liang
Xu Cui, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Fujian Children's Hospital (Fujian Branch of Shanghai Children's Medical Center), College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350011, Fujian Province, China
Zheng Liang, Institute of Transformation Studies, Fujian Children’s Hospital (Fujian Branch of Shanghai Children’s Medical Center), Fuzhou 350011, Fujian Province, China
Co-first authors: Xu Cui and Zheng Liang.
Author contributions: Cui X conceived and designed the critical analysis of the manuscript, drafted the letter to the editor, and revised the content based on peer review comments; Liang Z contributed to the methodological evaluation of the original study, provided scientific insights on lipid metabolism-immune regulation crosstalk, and assisted in finalizing the manuscript. Both authors approved the final version of the manuscript. Cui X and Liang Z contributed equally to this work as co-first authors.
Supported by Fujian Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Joint Fund Project, No. 2024Y9555; and Fujian Provincial Natural Science Foundation Project, No. 20241011124.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this manuscript. All authors confirm that there are no conflicts of interest, including but not limited to relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biomedical device manufacturers, or other entities that could benefit financially from the results of this study. No funding sources or grants have influenced the design, conduct, analysis, or interpretation of the work, nor the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
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: Xu Cui, PhD, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Fujian Children's Hospital (Fujian Branch of Shanghai Children's Medical Center), College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University, No. 18 Daoshan Road, Fuzhou 350011, Fujian Province, China. 16802937@qq.com
Received: July 18, 2025 Revised: August 8, 2025 Accepted: September 17, 2025 Published online: November 27, 2025 Processing time: 130 Days and 12.1 Hours
Abstract
This letter comments on a study on lipid metabolism, immunity, and lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer, a clinically relevant topic given lipid-immune crosstalk in tumor progression, to be published by the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. Key concerns include the following: Lack of detailed lipid parameter data [especially low-density lipoprotein (LDL) distribution] to contextualize LDL-metastasis associations, unclear criteria for selecting LDL receptors/ LDL receptor-related protein family genes and unexplained exclusion of broader lipid metabolism genes, and a disconnect between the proposed LDL-B lymphocyte regulatory hypothesis and literature emphasizing cholesterol’s impact on T cells. We therefore suggest that future research should supplement lipid data, clarify gene selection rationale, and provide direct evidence for LDL-B lymphocyte interplay, in order to enhance reliability in understanding esophageal cancer lipid-immune regulation.
Core Tip: This letter raises concerns about a study investigating lipid metabolism and lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer, focusing on three key issues: Insufficient data on lipid parameters [especially low-density lipoprotein (LDL) distribution] in the patient cohort, unclear rationale for selecting LDL-related genes and excluding other lipid metabolism pathways in gene screening, and a lack of direct evidence supporting the proposed LDL-B lymphocyte regulatory axis. It emphasizes the complexity of lipid-immune crosstalk in tumors and suggests future studies address these points to strengthen conclusions on lipid-immune regulation in esophageal cancer.
