Immune Cells and Risk of Cervical Cancer: Evidence from a Mendelian Randomization Study

Immune dysfunction is involved in the development of cervical cancer. There is lack of causal evidence presenting the effects of immune cells on the risk of cervical cancer (CC).

The genetic information of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from European descents was employed and a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) strategy was designed. In total, 731 kinds of immune cells were included as the exposures. For cervical cancer, the data was from the cohort involving almost 24,0000 participants. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) approach served as the main strategy for causality inference. MR-Egger and weighted median were the alternative methods for comparison. Sensitivity analyses focusing on heterogeneity and pleiotropy were then carried out to verify the estimated effects.

After selecting eligible SNPs for MR analysis, the IVW approach identified a total of 24 immune cell characteristics which were causally correlated with CC at p < 0.05. Among them, six immune cell phenotypes are confirmed to be related to an elevated risk of CC, while the remaining eighteen immune cell characteristics demonstrate protective effects against CC. MR-Egger and weighted median showed comparable results, and the detected associations passed the heterogeneity and pleiotropy tests.

This Mendelian randomization study demonstrated causal associations between immune cells and CC, underscoring the intricate interactions of the immune system with CC. The results also provide insights into the mechanisms of CC development attributed to immunological regulation and highlight potential therapeutic targets for improving immune responses in patients with CC.