AUTHOR=Gou Yang , Chen Miao , Zhu Zhi , Cui Chi 

TITLE=Galectin-3 and peripheral artery disease: a Mendelian randomization study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2023.1279396

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2023.1279396

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Multiple clinical studies have found a significant correlation between elevated galectin-3 (Gal-3) in circulation and the diagnosis and severity of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The current study used the Mendelian randomization (MR) technique to evaluate the possible causal relationship between Gal-3 and PAD.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Genome-wide association study (GWAS) data of Gal-3 and PAD were obtained through the MR-Base platform. Then, using Gal-3 as the exposure and PAD as the outcome, a two-sample MR analysis was performed utilizing several regression techniques, including MR-Egger regression, inverse variance weighted (IVW), weighted median, and weighted mode.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified and designated as instrumental variables (IVs) that exhibited significant correlations with Gal-3 (linkage disequilibrium <italic>r</italic><sup>2</sup> &lt; 0.001; <italic>P</italic> &lt; 5 × 10<sup>−8</sup>). Various statistical methods showed that there was an absence of a significant link between Gal-3 and PAD (IVW: odds ratio (OR) = 0.9869, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.8792–1.1078, <italic>P</italic> = 0.8232). In addition, the presence of genetic pleiotropy did impact the putative causal relationship between PAD and Gal-3 (MR-Egger intercept = 0.0099, <italic>P</italic> = 0.659).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>There is no current evidence to establish a causal relationship between the level of Gal-3 in circulation and PAD.</p></sec>