Assessment of the causal relationship between gut microbiota and cardiovascular diseases: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis

Xiao-Ce Dai; Yi Yu; Si-Yu Zhou; Shuo Yu; Mei-Xiang Xiang; Hong Ma

doi:10.1186/s13040-024-00356-2

Assessment of the causal relationship between gut microbiota and cardiovascular diseases: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis

BioData Min. 2024 Feb 26;17(1):6. doi: 10.1186/s13040-024-00356-2.

Authors

Xiao-Ce Dai^#¹, Yi Yu^#¹, Si-Yu Zhou¹, Shuo Yu², Mei-Xiang Xiang³, Hong Ma⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, State Key Laboratory of Transvascular Implantation Devices, Cardiovascular Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009, China.
² Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310009, China.
³ Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, State Key Laboratory of Transvascular Implantation Devices, Cardiovascular Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009, China. xiangmx@zju.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, State Key Laboratory of Transvascular Implantation Devices, Cardiovascular Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009, China. hong_ma@zju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have shown an association between gut microbiota and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the underlying causal relationship remains unclear. This study aims to elucidate the causal relationship between gut microbiota and CVDs and to explore the pathogenic role of gut microbiota in CVDs.

Methods: In this two-sample Mendelian randomization study, we used genetic instruments from publicly available genome-wide association studies, including single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with gut microbiota (n = 14,306) and CVDs (n = 2,207,591). We employed multiple statistical analysis methods, including inverse variance weighting, MR Egger, weighted median, MR pleiotropic residuals and outliers, and the leave-one-out method, to estimate the causal relationship between gut microbiota and CVDs. Additionally, we conducted multiple analyses to assess horizontal pleiotropy and heterogeneity.

Results: GWAS summary data were available from a pooled sample of 2,221,897 adult and adolescent participants. Our findings indicated that specific gut microbiota had either protective or detrimental effects on CVDs. Notably, Howardella (OR = 0.955, 95% CI: 0.913-0.999, P = .05), Intestinibacter (OR = 0.908, 95% CI:0.831-0.993, P = .03), Lachnospiraceae (NK4A136 group) (OR = 0.904, 95% CI:0.841-0.973, P = .007), Turicibacter (OR = 0.904, 95% CI: 0.838-0.976, P = .01), Holdemania (OR, 0.898; 95% CI: 0.810-0.995, P = .04) and Odoribacter (OR, 0.835; 95% CI: 0.710-0.993, P = .04) exhibited a protective causal effect on atrial fibrillation, while other microbiota had adverse causal effects. Similar effects were observed with respect to coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and hypertension. Furthermore, reversed Mendelian randomization analyses revealed that atrial fibrillation and ischemic stroke had causal effects on certain gut microbiotas.

Conclusion: Our study underscored the importance of gut microbiota in the context of CVDs and lent support to the hypothesis that increasing the abundance of probiotics or decreasing the abundance of harmful bacterial populations may offer protection against specific CVDs. Nevertheless, further research is essential to translate these findings into clinical practice.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Gut microbiota; Mendelian randomization analysis.

Abstract

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