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Published on: April 4, 2018
Mendelian Randomization Study on Causal Association of Pyroglutamine with COVID-19
Wenting Su1, Shan Zhou1, Gaizhi Zhu1
1Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, No. 10 Xitoutiao, You An Men, Beijing, 100069, China.
Background:
Glutamine family amino acids such as glutamate, pyroglutamate, and glutamine have been shown to play important roles in COVID-19. However, it is still unclear about the role of pyroglutamate in COVID-19. Thus, we use a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to identify the genetic causal link between blood pyroglutamine levels and COVID-19 risk.
Methods:
Pyroglutamine genetic instrumental variables (IVs) were chosen from the largest pyroglutamine-associated genome-wide association studies (GWAS). The largest COVID-19 GWAS dataset was employed to evaluate the causal link between blood pyroglutamine levels and COVID-19 risk using two-sample MR analysis.
Results:
We found no significant pleiotropy or heterogeneity of pyroglutamine-associated genetic IVs in COVID-19 GWAS. Interestingly, we found that as pyroglutamine genetically increased, the risk of COVID-19 decreased using inverse variance weighted (IVW) (Beta = - 0.644, p = 0.003; OR = 0.525, 95% CI [0.346-0.798]) and weighted median (Beta = - 0.609, p = 0.013; OR = 0.544, 95% CI [0.337-0.878]).
Conclusion:
Our analysis suggests a causal link between genetically increased pyroglutamine and reduced risk of COVID-19. Thus, pyroglutamine may be a protective factor for patients with COVID-19.
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