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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Clinical and Translational Cardiovascular Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1454645
This article is part of the Research Topic Vascular Injury in Systemic Diseases: Current Concepts and Future Perspectives View all articles

Impact of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus on Cardiovascular Morphologic and Functional Phenotypes: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Zishan Lin Zishan Lin 1*Wenfeng Wang Wenfeng Wang 1Bingjing Jiang Bingjing Jiang 1*Jian He Jian He 2*Yanfang Xu Yanfang Xu 1*
  • 1 First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
  • 2 Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Previous studies have established a correlation between systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and cardiovascular health, but the potential causal effects of SLE on heart function and structure remain poorly understood. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, a novel non-invasive technique, provides a unique assessment of cardiovascular structure and function, making it an essential tool for evaluating the risk of heart disease. In this study, we performed a Mendelian randomization analysis to determine the causal relationship between SLE and CMR traits. Genetic variants independently linked to SLE were selected from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) containing 5,201 cases and 9,066 controls as instrumental variables. A set of 82 CMR traits was obtained from a recent GWAS, serving as preclinical indicators and providing preliminary insights into the morphology and function of the four cardiac chambers and two aortic segments. Primary analysis employed a two-sample Mendelian randomization study using the inverse-variance weighted method. Heterogeneity testing, sensitivity analyses, and instrumental variable strength assessments confirmed the robustness of the findings.SLE exhibited a correlation with increased stroke volume (βLVSV=0.007, P=0.045), regional peak circumferential strain (βEcc_AHA_9=0.013, P=0.002; βEcc_AHA_12=0.009, P=0.043; βEcc_AHA_14=0.013, P=0.006), and global peak circumferential strain of the LV (βEcc_global=0.010, P=0.022), as well as decreased regional radial strain (βErr_AHA_11=-0.010, P=0.017).This research presents evidence of a potential causal association between traits of SLE and alterations in cardiac function, guiding cardiac examinations and disease prevention in lupus patients.

    Keywords: systemic lupus erythematosus, cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging, cardiovascular structure and function, Mendelian randomization, cardiac function

    Received: 25 Jun 2024; Accepted: 16 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lin, Wang, Jiang, He and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zishan Lin, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
    Bingjing Jiang, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
    Jian He, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, Guangdong Province, China
    Yanfang Xu, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China

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