AUTHOR=Zhang Jiahao , Wu Gefeng , Tang Yuhong , Liu Huanxiang , Ge Xinyu , Peng Rui , Cao Jun , Tu Daoyuan , Su Bingbing , Jin Shengjie , Jiang Guoqing , Zhang Chi , Bai Dousheng 

TITLE=Causal associations between gut microbiota and primary biliary cholangitis: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1273024

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1273024

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>Previous studies have suggested an association between gut microbiota and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Nonetheless, the causal relationship between gut microbiota and PBC risk remains unclear.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods</title><p>A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) study was employed using summary statistical data for gut microbiota and PBC from the MiBioGen consortium and Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) database to investigate causal relationships between 211 gut microbiota and PBC risk. Inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was the primary analytical approach to assess causality, and the pleiotropy and heterogeneity tests were employed to verify the robustness of the findings. Additionally, we performed reverse MR analyses to investigate the possibility of the reverse causal association.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>The IVW method identified five gut microbiota that demonstrated associations with the risk of PBC. Order <italic>Selenomonadales</italic> [odds ratio (OR) 2.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10–4.14, <italic>p</italic> = 0.03], Order <italic>Bifidobacteriales</italic> (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.07–2.33, <italic>p</italic> = 0.02), and Genus <italic>Lachnospiraceae_UCG_004</italic> (OR 1.64, 95%CI 1.06–2.55, <italic>p</italic> = 0.03) were correlated with a higher risk of PBC, while Family <italic>Peptostreptococcaceae</italic> (OR 0.65, 95%CI 0.43–0.98, <italic>p</italic> = 0.04) and Family <italic>Ruminococcaceae</italic> (OR 0.33, 95%CI 0.15–0.72, <italic>p</italic> = 0.01) had a protective effect on PBC. The reverse MR analysis demonstrated no statistically significant relationship between PBC and these five specific gut microbial taxa.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>This study revealed that there was a causal relationship between specific gut microbiota taxa and PBC, which may provide novel perspectives and a theoretical basis for the clinical prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of PBC.</p></sec>