Genetically Predicted Serum Albumin and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third-most frequently diagnosed cancer globally. Studies have linked low serum albumin with increased risk of CRC, but the causal nature of the association remains unclear. In the present study, we explored the potential causal relationship using bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR).

Instrumental variants for albumin were obtained from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 102,223 Eastern Asian participants to investigate the effect of albumin on CRC. Summary statistics of CRC were obtained from a GWAS on 7,062 CRC cases and 195,745 controls of Eastern Asian ancestry. Bidirectional MR analysis was performed using inverse variance weighting (IVW) for primary analysis, supplemented with a maximum likelihood-based method, MR-PRESSO test, leave-one-out analysis, and MR-Egger regression. Stratification analyses were further performed.

We found that genetically predicted serum albumin per unit was associated with a lower risk of CRC (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.59-0.95 with IVW). No evidence of pleiotropy was observed. Sex-stratified MR analysis showed that serum albumin was inversely associated with risk of CRC in men (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.53-0.96), but not in women (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.55-1.19) using IVW. Reverse MR analysis suggested a genetic predisposition toward CRC was not associated with serum albumin.

Our study revealed a suggestive sex disparity in the effect of albumin, which deserves further exploration of the potential biological mechanism.