Sun D, Zhang Y, Wang R, Du Q, Shi Z, Chen H, Wang X, Zhou H. Causal effects of gut microbiota on multiple sclerosis: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study.
Brain Behav 2024;
14:e3593. [PMID:
38898610 PMCID:
PMC11186842 DOI:
10.1002/brb3.3593]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Gut microbiota alterations in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have been reported in observational studies, but whether these associations are causal is unclear.
OBJECTIVE
We performed a Mendelian randomization study (MR) to assess the causal effects of gut microbiota on MS.
METHODS
Independent genetic variants associated with 211 gut microbiota phenotypes were selected as instrumental variables from the largest genome-wide association studies (GWAS) previously published by the MiBioGen study. GWAS data for MS were obtained from the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) for primary analysis and the FinnGen consortium for replication and collaborative analysis. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate heterogeneity and pleiotropy.
RESULTS
After inverse-variance-weighted and sensitivity analysis filtering, seven gut microbiota with potential causal effects on MS were identified from the IMSGC. Only five metabolites remained significant associations with MS when combined with the FinnGen consortium, including genus Anaerofilum id.2053 (odds ratio [OR] = 1.141, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.021-1.276, p = .021), Ruminococcus2 id.11374 (OR = 1.190, 95% CI: 1.007-1.406, p = .042), Ruminococcaceae UCG003 id.11361 (OR = 0.822, 95% CI: 0.688-0.982, p = .031), Ruminiclostridium5 id.11355 (OR = 0.724, 95% CI: 0.585-0.895, p = .003), Anaerotruncus id.2054 (OR = 0.772, 95% CI: 0.634-0.940, p = .010).
CONCLUSION
Our MR analysis reveals a potential causal relationship between gut microbiota and MS, offering promising avenues for advancing mechanistic understanding and clinical investigation of microbiota-mediated MS.
Collapse