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Updated: Sep 5, 2025

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Published on: March 22, 2024
Telomere length and multiple sclerosis: a Mendelian randomization study
Yazhou Ma1, Mengmeng Wang1, Xin Chen1
1Department of Neurology, Third Affiliated Hospital, Soochow University, Changzhou, China.
Purpose Of The Study:
Previous studies have established that telomere length is associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, confounding factors and reverse causality bias can impair observational research. Here, we conducted a two-sample MR study to see if telomere length is causally linked to MS using publically available GWAS summary statistics.
Materials And Methods:
We screened 13 independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to leukocyte telomere length in a recent genome-wide association meta-analysis, which was available for 78,592 samples of European ancestry. The summary statistics for MS were from the latest meta-analyses conducted by the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC), which included 115,803 European participants (47,429 MS, 68,374 controls).
Results:
We found that leukocyte telomere length and MS are correlated (IVW estimate of odds ratio (OR): 2.13 per 1-SD increase in genetically determined telomere length, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.55-2.92, p = 3.18 × 10-6).
Conclusion:
Our MR study supported that leukocyte telomere length and MS have a positive causal relationship. Further researches are warranted to elucidate the physiological mechanism.
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