Autoimmune disease and risk of lymphoma: analysis from real-world data and Mendelian randomization study

Autoimmune diseases (AIDs) appear to be the primary predisposing factors for lymphoma. This study aims to investigate the causal effects between AIDs and lymphomagenesis.

A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) framework was employed to estimate the causal effect through UK Biobank (UKB) and FinnGen cohorts. Patients with histories of AIDs and diagnosed with lymphoma were enrolled in real-world studies.

MR analysis investigated the potential causal effect of AIDs on the risks of lymphoma [odd ratio (OR) = 1.001, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.000-1.002, p = 0.040]. In our real-world data, there are no significantly increased risks for lymphoma when analyzing ORs for the history of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis (PsO) (OR 1.027, 95% CI = 0.516-2.04 for RA, and OR 1.022, 95% CI = 0.442-2.365 for PsO). The serum albumin (ALB) and sialic acid (SA) levels were independent prognostic factors for both progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in AIDs-associated lymphoma (AAL) patients.

Our results confirmed the causal relationships between AIDs and risks of lymphoma. Serum ALB and SA levels have demonstrated a vital influence on outcomes of AAL patients, in which the IL-17 pathway might play an active role.