Causal associations between gut microbiome and cardiovascular disease: A Mendelian randomization study

Area of Science:

• Genetics
• Microbiology
• Cardiovascular Medicine

Background:

• Observational studies suggest a link between gut microbiome and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
• The causal relationship between gut microbiome composition and CVD risk remains controversial and requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential causal effect of gut microbiome on the risk of various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
• To establish a causal link between specific gut microbiome components and CVDs using Mendelian randomization.

Main Methods:

• Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted using two significance thresholds for genetic variants (SNPs).
• Summary-level statistics for coronary artery disease (CAD), myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and stroke were collected.
• Inverse-variance weighted and Wald ratio methods were used for estimation, with sensitivity analyses including weighted median and MR-Egger.

Main Results:

• Genetically predicted genus Oxalobacter showed a positive association with coronary artery disease (CAD) risk (OR = 1.06).
• Family Clostridiaceae_1 was negatively correlated with stroke and ischemic stroke risk (OR = 0.83 and 0.823, respectively).
• No causal relationships were found between other gut microbiome components and CVDs at the genome-wide significance threshold.

Conclusions:

• Gut microbiome components can have beneficial or adverse causal effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
• Findings offer novel insights for preventing and managing CVDs by targeting the gut microbiome.