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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1398254

A Mendelian Randomization Study Investigating Causal Links Between Gut Microbiota or Metabolites and Chronic Hepatitis B

Provisionally accepted
Tongjing Xing Tongjing Xing *Wang Xuequan Wang Xuequan Shanshan He Shanshan He
  • Zhejiang Taizhou Hospital, Taizhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: This study aimed to explore the potential causal relationship between the gut microbiota and/or its metabolites and the progression of chronic hepatitis B(CHB). Method: The gut microbiota was used as the exposure factor. The training set exposure data were obtained from the China Nucleotide Sequence Archive(CNSA). Genome-wide association study(GWAS) data from Asia were used as the outcome variables.Outcome data for both the training and validation sets were sourced from the GWAS Catalog database. A dual-sample Mendelian randomization approach was used to analyze the causal relationships, with the inverse variance-weighted method serving as the main analytical strategy. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the robustness of Mendelian randomization analysis results. Result: In the training set database, analysis using the inverse variance-weighted method revealed a positive correlation between Fusobacterium varium and chronic hepatitis B [OR = 1.122, 95% CI (1.016, 1.240), P = 0.022]. Conversely, Veillonella parvula exhibited a negative correlation with chronic hepatitis B [OR = 0.917, 95% CI (0.852, 0.987), P = 0.021]. Sensitivity analysis revealed no evidence of pleiotropy and heterogeneity. No gut microbiota metabolites with a causal effect on chronic hepatitis B were identified. Additionally, no associations between the gut microbiota and the progression of chronic hepatitis B were found in the validation data from the European cohort. Conclusion: This study suggests that F. varium may facilitate the progression of chronic hepatitis B, whereas V. parvula may impede it. No causal relationships between gut microbiota metabolites and chronic hepatitis B were established.

    Keywords: Chronic hepatitis B, Gut Microbiota, Metabolites, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Causal links

    Received: 09 Mar 2024; Accepted: 07 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xing, Xuequan and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tongjing Xing, Zhejiang Taizhou Hospital, Taizhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.