Association between Plasma Metabolite Levels and Myopia: A 2-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Metabolomics
• Genetics

Background:

• The role of plasma metabolites in myopia development remains unclear.
• Previous research on plasma metabolites and myopia is limited and primarily observational.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential causal relationship between plasma metabolites and myopia.
• To leverage 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) for robust causal inference.

Main Methods:

• A 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study design was employed.
• Analyzed 1091 plasma metabolites and 309 ratios from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging cohort.
• Utilized UK Biobank data for myopia summary statistics (37,362 cases, 460,536 controls).
• Primary analysis used Inverse Variance Weighting (IVW); secondary analyses included MR-Egger and weighted median.

Main Results:

• Elevated levels of 1-arachidonoyl-GPE, linoleoyl-arachidonoyl glycerol [1], and linoleoyl-arachidonoyl-glycerol [2] showed a protective effect against myopia.
• Increased risk of myopia was associated with elevated levels of four plasma metabolite ratios, including phosphate to linoleoyl-arachidonoyl-glycerol [2] and citrulline to dimethylarginine.

Conclusions:

• Established a causal link between specific plasma metabolites and myopia.
• Identified potential therapeutic targets for myopia intervention.
• Emphasized the need for diverse population studies to generalize findings.