AUTHOR=Zhang Ruiqiao , Zhao Weijie , Zhao Ruijie , Zhao Yunhai , Zhang Yanlong , Liang Xuezhi 

TITLE=Causal relationship in gut microbiota and upper urinary urolithiasis using Mendelian randomization

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1170793

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1170793

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=Background：Several reports in recent years have found an association between gut microbiota and urinary stones. However, the causal relationship between them remains to be clarified.
Methods: Genetic variation is used as a tool in Mendelian randomization for inference whether exposure factors have a causal effect on disease outcomes. We selected summary statistics from a large genome wide association study of the gut microbioma published by the MiBioGen consortium as an exposure factor and urolithiasis data from FinnGen GWAS as a disease outcome. Then a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis was performed by applying Inverse variance weighted, MR-Egger ,maximum likelihood,and weighted median. In addition, sensitivity analysis was done to avoid bias of the results.
Results: IVW results confirmed that Barnesiella（OR = 0.695，95%CI：0.551–0.877，P = 2.20 × 10−3）, Clostridium sensu_stricto_1（OR = 0.777，95%CI：0.612–0.986，P = 0.0380）, Flavonifractor（OR = 0.711，95%CI：0.536–0.944，P = 0.0181）, Hungatella（OR = 0.829，95%CI：0.690–0.995，P = 0.0444） and Oscillospira（OR = 0.758，95%CI：0.577–0.996，P = 0.0464）had a protective effect on renal  stones while Eubacterium xylanophilum（OR =1.26，95%CI：1.010–1.566，P = 0.0423） had the opposite effect in total 119 genera. Sensitivity analysis did not find outlier SNPs.
Conclusion：In conclusion, a causal relationship was found between several genera and urinary stones. However, we still need further randomized controlled trials to validate.