Gut Microbiome and Stroke: a Bidirectional Mendelian Randomisation Study in East Asian and European Populations

Observational studies have implicated the involvement of gut microbiome in stroke development. Conversely, stroke may disrupt the gut microbiome balance, potentially causing systemic infections exacerbated brain infarction. However, the causal relationship remains controversial or unknown. To investigate bidirectional causality and potential ethnic differences, we conducted a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomisation (MR) study in both East Asian (EAS) and European (EU) populations.

Leveraging the hitherto largest genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data from the MiBioGen Consortium (n=18 340, EU) and BGI (n=2524, EAS) for the gut microbiome, stroke GWAS data from the GIGASTROKE Consortium(264 655 EAS and 1 308 460 EU), we conducted bidirectional MR and sensitivity analyses separately for the EAS and EU population.

We identified nominally significant associations between 85 gut microbiomes taxa in EAS and 64 gut microbiomes taxa in EU with stroke or its subtypes. Following multiple testing, we observed that genetically determined 1 SD increase in the relative abundance of species Bacteroides pectinophilus decreased the risk of cardioembolic stroke onset by 28% (OR 0.72 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.84); p=4.22e-5), and that genetically determined 1 SD increase in class Negativicutes resulted in a 0.76% risk increase in small vessel stroke in EAS. No significant causal association was identified in the EU population and the reverse MR analysis.

Our study revealed subtype-specific and population-specific causal associations between gut microbiome and stroke risk among EAS and EU populations. The identified causality holds promise for developing a new stroke prevention strategy, warrants further mechanistic validation and necessitates clinical trial studies.