AUTHOR=Huang Shi-Jia , Li Rong , Xu Shuo , Liu Yuan , Li Sheng-Hui , Duan Sheng-Zhong 

TITLE=Assessment of bidirectional relationships between circulating cytokines and periodontitis: Insights from a mendelian randomization analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2023.1124638

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2023.1124638

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=Background: The purpose of this Mendelian randomization (MR) study was to assess the causal relationship between circulating cytokines and periodontitis.
Materials and Methods: We applied bidirectional two sample MR based on summary statistics of the largest publicly available genome-wide association study (GWAS). MR analyses were conducted using Inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, Weighted median, Maximum likelihood (ML) and Robust Adjusted Profile Score (RAPS), and results obtained from IVW served as the primary outcome. Cochran Q test was used to test the heterogeneity. Pleiotropy analysis was applied using MR-Egger intercept test and MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) test. Leave-one-out sensitivity and funnel plots were used for sensitivity analysis.
Results: The IVW method indicated that interleukin 9 (IL9) had a positive causal relationship with periodontitis [odds ratio (OR)=1.199, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.049-1.372, P=0.008], and interleukin 17 (IL17) had a negative causal relationship with periodontitis (OR=0.847, 95% CI=0.735-0.976, P=0.022). In bidirectional MR, periodontitis was not causally related to any of the cytokines in our study.
Conclusions: Our findings provided evidence in support of potential causal associations between circulating IL9/IL17 and periodontitis.