AUTHOR=Wang Peng , Xiang Kun , Xu Yuan-Yuan , He Yi-Sheng , Hu Yu-Qian , Ni Jing , Pan Hai-Feng 

TITLE=Genetically Predicted Circulating Omega-3 Fatty Acids Levels Are Causally Associated With Increased Risk for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.783338

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.783338

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Accumulating evidence has demonstrated the associations of omega-3 or omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) with the disease activity and inflammatory mediators of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but the evidence of causal links of omega-3 or omega-6 PUFAs on the risk for SLE remains inconclusive.</p></sec><sec><title>Objectives</title><p>This study was conducted to evaluate the causal relationships between omega-3/omega-6 PUFAs and SLE by performing the Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were obtained from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of circulating omega-3/omega-6 levels (<italic>n</italic> = up to 13,544) and GWAS meta-analyses of SLE (<italic>n</italic> = 14,267), respectively. The bidirectional two-sample MR (TSMR) analysis was conducted to infer the causality.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method revealed that genetically determined per SD increase in omega-3 levels were causally associated with an increased risk for SLE (odds ratios [<italic>OR</italic>s] = 1.49, 95% <italic>CI</italic>: 1.07, 2.08, <italic>p</italic> = 0.021), but no causal effect of omega-6 on the risk SLE was observed (IVW <italic>OR</italic> = 1.06, 95% <italic>CI</italic>: 0.72, 1.57, <italic>p</italic> = 0.759). In addition, there were no significantly causal associations in genetic predisposition to SLE with the changes of omega-3 and omega-6 levels, respectively (IVW beta for omega-3: 0.007, 95% <italic>CI</italic>: −0.006, 0.022, <italic>p</italic> = 0.299; IVW beta for omega-6: −0.008, 95% <italic>CI</italic>: −0.023, 0.006, <italic>p</italic> = 0.255).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The present study revealed the possible causal role of omega-3 on increasing the risk for SLE, it could be the potential implications for dietary recommendations.</p></sec>