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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1384285

Helicobacter pylori infection and inflammatory bowel disease: A 2-sample Mendelian randomization study

Provisionally accepted
Yurong Cui Yurong Cui 1Jinxin Li Jinxin Li 2Bing Zhao Bing Zhao 2Junying Liu Junying Liu 1*
  • 1 First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
  • 2 Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

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

    Introduction: Observational studies have discovered a contradictory phenomenon between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The study aimed to confirm the causal association between H. pylori and IBD, including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD).We conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) study with two sample Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) to determine whether there is a causal relationship between H. pylori infection and IBD, as well as the possible pathogenic factors that may be involved. The reliability of the main MR assumptions was examined through a series of sensitivity analyses.Results: Two genetic variants (SNPs) previously identified were employed as instrumental variables (IVs) for H. pylori infection. GWAS data for IBD, UC, and CD were obtained from the recent DF10 release10 of the FinnGen study. Our findings indicated a significant association between H. pylori seropositivity and an increased risk of IBD and UC (IBD: OR: 1.16, 95% CI, 1.03-1.31, P < 0.05; UC: OR: 1.22, 95% CI, 1.08-1.37, P < 0.001) while no causal relationship with CD (P > 0.05). Analysis of the main virulence pathogenic factors revealed a causal relationship between cytotoxin-associated protein A (CagA) and IBD and UC (IBD: OR: 1. 06, 95% CI, 1.001-1.11, P < 0.05; UC: OR: 1.07, 95% CI, 1.004-1.14, P < 0.05), while no correlation was found for vacuolar cytotoxin A (VacA) (P > 0.05). After applying the False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction, the causal relationship between CagA and the risk of IBD or UC was no longer statistically significant.This study suggests a potential causal relationship between H. pylori infection and IBD, particularly UC. The effect may be more pronounced in individuals with previous H. pylori infections.

    Keywords: Crohn's disease, Helicobacter pylori, inflammatory bowel disease, Mendelian randomization, ulcerative colitis

    Received: 16 Feb 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cui, Li, Zhao and Liu. 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: Junying Liu, First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan 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.