Fang X, Deng Q, Yang H, Yan Z, Peng Z, Zhao Y, Liao T, Tu Z, Liu J, Liu L, Zou L, He H. Causal association of immune cells and endometriosis: a Mendelian randomization study.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2024;
15:1397670. [PMID:
38868746 PMCID:
PMC11167632 DOI:
10.3389/fendo.2024.1397670]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 05/09/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Objective
To investigate the causal effect of immune cells on endometriosis (EMS), we performed a Mendelian randomization analysis.
Methods
Mendelian randomization (MR) uses genetic variants as instrumental variables to investigate the causal effects of exposures on outcomes in observational data. In this study, we conducted a thorough two-sample MR analysis to investigate the causal relationship between 731 immune cells and endometriosis. We used complementary Mendelian randomization (MR) methods, including weighted median estimator (WME) and inverse variance weighted (IVW), and performed sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of our results.
Results
Four immune phenotypes have been found to be significantly associated with the risk of developing EMS: B cell %lymphocyte (WME: OR: 1.074, p = 0.027 and IVW: OR: 1.058, p = 0.008), CD14 on Mo MDSC (WME: OR: 1.056, p =0.021 and IVW: OR: 1.047, p = 0.021), CD14+ CD16- monocyte %monocyte (WME: OR: 0.947, p = 0.024 and IVW: OR: 0.958, p = 0.011), CD25 on unsw mem (WME: OR: 1.055, p = 0.030 and IVW: OR: 1.048, p = 0.003). Sensitivity analyses confirmed the main findings, demonstrating consistency across analyses.
Conclusions
Our MR analysis provides compelling evidence for a direct causal link between immune cells and EMS, thereby advancing our understanding of the disease. It also provides new avenues and opportunities for the development of immunomodulatory therapeutic strategies in the future.
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