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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Genet.
Sec. Statistical Genetics and Methodology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1380830
This article is part of the Research Topic Use of Bioinformatics in Pharmacogenetics to Optimize Drug Efficacy View all 4 articles

A two sample Mendelian randomization study reveals causal effects of statin medication on gut microbiota abundance in European population

Provisionally accepted
Peng Zhou Peng Zhou 1Zequn Zhuang Zequn Zhuang 1Kaihang Shi Kaihang Shi 2Ziyuan Liu Ziyuan Liu 1Zhihui Yang Zhihui Yang 3Mengqi Yang Mengqi Yang 1Huiheng Qu Huiheng Qu 3Jiazeng Xia Jiazeng Xia 1*
  • 1 Wuxi No.2 People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Yixing People's Hospital, Yixing, Jiangsu, China
  • 3 Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

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

    Background: Observational studies have been reported on changes in gut microbiota abundance caused by long-term statin medication therapy. However, the causality of statin medication on gut microbiota subsets based on the genetic variants remains unclear.We enrolled statin medication-related GWAS data from the FinnGen database and gut microbiota abundance GWAS data from IEU OpenGWAS project. MR analysis of the causal effect of statin medication on gut microbiota abundance was performed using IVW, MR Egger and weighted median. Meanwhile, heterogeneity or pleiotropy analysis were also undertaken in this study.: Statin medication was negatively correlated with five species of gut microbiota abundance: Parabacteroides (BetaIVW=-0.2745, 95% CI=(-0.4422,-0.1068), PIVW=0.0013), Ruminococcaceae UCG009 (BetaIVW=-0.1904, 95% CI=(-0.3255, -0.0553), PIVW=0.0057), Coprococcus1 (BetaIVW=-0.1212, 95% CI=(-0.2194, -0.0231), PIVW=0.0154), Ruminococcaceae UCG010 (BetaIVW=-0.1149, 95% CI=(-0.2238, -0.0060), PIVW=0.0385), Veillonellaceae (BetaIVW=-0.0970, 95% CI=(-0.2238, 0.0060), PIVW=0.0400) and positively correlated with one species of gut microbiota: Desulfovibrio (BetaIVW=0.2452, 95% CI=(0.0299, 0.4606), PIVW=0.0255). And no significant heterogeneity or pleiotropy was detected in above gut microbiota.This Mendelian randomization analysis indicated that statin medication causally associated with six species of gut microbiota. This result may provide new strategies for health monitoring in populations taking long-term statin medications.

    Keywords: Causal effect, Gut Microbiota, Mendelian randomization, Statin medication, TwoSampleMR

    Received: 05 Feb 2024; Accepted: 14 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhou, Zhuang, Shi, Liu, Yang, Yang, Qu and Xia. 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: Jiazeng Xia, Wuxi No.2 People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.