Causal relationships between gut microbiota and programmed cell death protein 1/programmed cell death-ligand 1: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Background: Multiple clinical studies have indicated that the gut microbiota influences the effects of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy comprising PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, but the causal relationship is unclear. Because of numerous confounders, many microbes related to PD-1/PD-L1 have not been identified. This study aimed to determine the causal relationship between the microbiota and PD-1/PD-L1 and identify possible biomarkers for ICB therapy.

Method: We used bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization with two different thresholds to explore the potential causal relationship between the microbiota and PD-1/PD-L1 and species-level microbiota GWAS to verify the result.

Result: In the primary forward analysis, genus_Holdemanella showed a negative correlation with PD-1 [βIVW = -0.25; 95% CI (-0.43 to -0.07); P_FDR = 0.028] and genus_Prevotella9 showed a positive correlation with PD-1 [βIVW = 0.2; 95% CI (0.1 to 0.4); P_FDR = 0.027]; order_Rhodospirillales [βIVW = 0.2; 95% CI (0.1 to 0.4); P_FDR = 0.044], family_Rhodospirillaceae [βIVW = 0.2; 95% CI (0 to 0.4); P_FDR = 0.032], genus_Ruminococcaceae_UCG005 [βIVW = 0.29; 95% CI (0.08 to 0.5); P_FDR = 0.028], genus_Ruminococcus_gnavus_group [βIVW = 0.22; 95% CI (0.05 to 0.4); P_FDR = 0.029], and genus_Coprococcus_2 [βIVW = 0.4; 95% CI (0.1 to 0.6); P_FDR = 0.018] were positively correlated with PD-L1; and phylum_Firmicutes [βIVW = -0.3; 95% CI (-0.4 to -0.1); P_FDR = 0.031], family_ClostridialesvadinBB60group [βIVW = -0.31; 95% CI (-0.5 to -0.11), P_FDR = 0.008], family_Ruminococcaceae [βIVW = -0.33; 95% CI (-0.58 to -0.07); P_FDR = 0.049], and genus_Ruminococcaceae_UCG014 [βIVW = -0.35; 95% CI (-0.57 to -0.13); P_FDR = 0.006] were negatively correlated with PD-L1. The one significant species in further analysis was species_Parabacteroides_unclassified [βIVW = 0.2; 95% CI (0-0.4); P_FDR = 0.029]. Heterogeneity (P > 0.05) and pleiotropy (P > 0.05) analyses confirmed the robustness of the MR results.

Keywords: PD-1/PD-L1; bidirectional Mendelian randomization; causality; gut microbiota; pQTL.