Causal Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Pulmonary Embolism: An Analysis Using Mendelian Randomization

Previous research has demonstrated a connection between an unbalanced gut microbiome (GM) and lung diseases, suggesting that gut bacteria may affect lung health through the “gut-lung” axis. However, the direct connection between GM and pulmonary embolism (PE) is unclear. Mendelian randomization stud...

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Main Authors: CEN LILAN, QIN LING, CHEN WANLING, WEI LIHUA, TANG CAIXIA, TENG XIANG, TIAN ZHE
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2025-06-01
Series:Polish Journal of Microbiology
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2025-013
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author CEN LILAN
QIN LING
CHEN WANLING
WEI LIHUA
TANG CAIXIA
TENG XIANG
TIAN ZHE
author_facet CEN LILAN
QIN LING
CHEN WANLING
WEI LIHUA
TANG CAIXIA
TENG XIANG
TIAN ZHE
author_sort CEN LILAN
collection DOAJ
description Previous research has demonstrated a connection between an unbalanced gut microbiome (GM) and lung diseases, suggesting that gut bacteria may affect lung health through the “gut-lung” axis. However, the direct connection between GM and pulmonary embolism (PE) is unclear. Mendelian randomization studies were used to investigate GM’s genetic relationship with PE. A total of 18,340 independent genewide association studies (GWAS) yielded single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked to the GM, which were then used as instrumental variables in a multiple regression analysis (MR) to examine the effect of GM on the risk of PE within the IEU Open GWAS project, which included 2,118 PE cases and 359,076 controls. The principal analytical methodology utilized in this research was inverse variance weighting (IVW), complemented by assessments for pleiotropy and heterogeneity to confirm the results’ resilience. The findings of this study are predominantly derived from the IVW method, providing evidence for causal associations between four distinct genera of GM and the risk of PE. Specifically, our analysis suggests that Slackia (p = 0.031), Oscillospira (p = 0.038), Bacteroides (p = 0.032), and Clostridium sensu stricto 1 (p = 0.049) may be linked to a decreased likelihood of developing PE. Importantly, our analysis yielded no evidence of heterogeneity or pleiotropy. In this MR study, we have established through genetic analysis that specific GM are significantly involved in the development of PE, underscoring the connection between the gut-lung axis and suggesting avenues for future research into the impact of GM on PE.
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spelling doaj-art-42c372dafe6a4076bc1fc6002ccf7a6c2025-08-20T03:22:33ZengSciendoPolish Journal of Microbiology2544-46462025-06-0174215316410.33073/pjm-2025-013Causal Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Pulmonary Embolism: An Analysis Using Mendelian RandomizationCEN LILAN0QIN LING1CHEN WANLING2WEI LIHUA3TANG CAIXIA4TENG XIANG5TIAN ZHE61Guangxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Infectious Disease, the People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China1Guangxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Infectious Disease, the People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China1Guangxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Infectious Disease, the People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China1Guangxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Infectious Disease, the People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China1Guangxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Infectious Disease, the People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China1Guangxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Department of Infectious Disease, the People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China2Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, ChinaPrevious research has demonstrated a connection between an unbalanced gut microbiome (GM) and lung diseases, suggesting that gut bacteria may affect lung health through the “gut-lung” axis. However, the direct connection between GM and pulmonary embolism (PE) is unclear. Mendelian randomization studies were used to investigate GM’s genetic relationship with PE. A total of 18,340 independent genewide association studies (GWAS) yielded single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked to the GM, which were then used as instrumental variables in a multiple regression analysis (MR) to examine the effect of GM on the risk of PE within the IEU Open GWAS project, which included 2,118 PE cases and 359,076 controls. The principal analytical methodology utilized in this research was inverse variance weighting (IVW), complemented by assessments for pleiotropy and heterogeneity to confirm the results’ resilience. The findings of this study are predominantly derived from the IVW method, providing evidence for causal associations between four distinct genera of GM and the risk of PE. Specifically, our analysis suggests that Slackia (p = 0.031), Oscillospira (p = 0.038), Bacteroides (p = 0.032), and Clostridium sensu stricto 1 (p = 0.049) may be linked to a decreased likelihood of developing PE. Importantly, our analysis yielded no evidence of heterogeneity or pleiotropy. In this MR study, we have established through genetic analysis that specific GM are significantly involved in the development of PE, underscoring the connection between the gut-lung axis and suggesting avenues for future research into the impact of GM on PE.https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2025-013gut microbiotapulmonary embolismmendelian randomizationgut-lung axiscausality
spellingShingle CEN LILAN
QIN LING
CHEN WANLING
WEI LIHUA
TANG CAIXIA
TENG XIANG
TIAN ZHE
Causal Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Pulmonary Embolism: An Analysis Using Mendelian Randomization
Polish Journal of Microbiology
gut microbiota
pulmonary embolism
mendelian randomization
gut-lung axis
causality
title Causal Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Pulmonary Embolism: An Analysis Using Mendelian Randomization
title_full Causal Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Pulmonary Embolism: An Analysis Using Mendelian Randomization
title_fullStr Causal Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Pulmonary Embolism: An Analysis Using Mendelian Randomization
title_full_unstemmed Causal Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Pulmonary Embolism: An Analysis Using Mendelian Randomization
title_short Causal Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Pulmonary Embolism: An Analysis Using Mendelian Randomization
title_sort causal relationship between gut microbiota and pulmonary embolism an analysis using mendelian randomization
topic gut microbiota
pulmonary embolism
mendelian randomization
gut-lung axis
causality
url https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2025-013
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