Associations Between Genetically Predicted Plasma N-Glycans and Prostate Cancer Risk: Analysis of Over 140,000 European Descendants

Identification of blood metabolites associated with risk of Alzheimer's disease by integrating genomics and metabolomics data

Specific metabolites have been reported to be potentially associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk. However, the comprehensive understanding of roles of metabolite biomarkers in AD etiology remains elusive. We performed a large AD metabolome-wide association study (MWAS) by developing blood metabolite genetic prediction models. We evaluated associations between genetically predicted levels of metabolites and AD risk in 39,106 clinically diagnosed AD cases, 46,828 proxy AD and related dementia (proxy-ADD) cases, and 401,577 controls. We further conducted analyses to determine microbiome features associated with the detected metabolites and characterize associations between predicted microbiome feature levels and AD risk. We identified fourteen metabolites showing an association with AD risk. Five microbiome features were further identified to be potentially related to associations of five of the metabolites. Our study provides new insights into the etiology of AD that involves blood metabolites and gut microbiome, which warrants further investigation.

Association between human blood metabolome and the risk of hypertension

Hypertension, commonly referred to as high blood pressure, is a chronic medical condition characterized by persistently elevated blood pressure levels. It is a prevalent global health issue, affecting a significant portion of the population worldwide. Hypertension is often asymptomatic, making it a silent but potentially dangerous condition if left untreated. Genetic instruments for 1,091 were from a recent comprehensive metabolome genome-wide association study (GWAS). Summary statistics of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) involving 757,601 sample size were analyzed. Two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) was conducted to assess causal effect of metabolites on DBP and SBP risk, and reverse MR analysis was performed to identify the DBP/SBP causal effect on blood metabolites. Twelve and twenty-two metabolites were identified to be associated with DBP and SBP, respectively. Sensitive analysis showed four metabolites had robustness association on BP. Reverse MR demonstrated DBP and SBP could decrease the tricosanoyl sphingomyelin (d18:1/23:0)* level and increase the 2-hydroxyhippurate (salicylurate) level in blood, respectively. Our findings reveal an association between blood metabolites and blood pressure (DBP and SBP), suggesting potential therapeutic targets for hypertension intervention.