Genetic prediction of micronutrient levels and the risk of colorectal polyps: A mendelian randomization study

Siyao Lv; Yunyi Ding; Junli Huang; Yixin He; Ruijie Xie; Xiaohong Shi; Wei Ye

doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2024.04.019

Genetic prediction of micronutrient levels and the risk of colorectal polyps: A mendelian randomization study

Clin Nutr. 2024 Apr 25;43(6):1405-1413. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2024.04.019. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Siyao Lv¹, Yunyi Ding², Junli Huang³, Yixin He⁴, Ruijie Xie⁵, Xiaohong Shi⁶, Wei Ye⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, Hangzhou TCM Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China. Electronic address: lvsiyao@zcmu.edu.cn.
² Department of Nephrology, Hangzhou TCM Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China. Electronic address: dingyunyi@zcmu.edu.cn.
³ Department of Geriatrics, Hangzhou TCM Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China. Electronic address: HUANGjunli2016@126.com.
⁴ Gynaecologic Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou TCM Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China. Electronic address: ohoneheart@163.com.
⁵ Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany. Electronic address: ruijie.xie@dkfz-heidelberg.de.
⁶ Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310012, China. Electronic address: liqingcui@ucas.ac.cn.
⁷ Department of Gastroenterology, Hangzhou TCM Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China. Electronic address: yewei@zcmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38691983
DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2024.04.019

Abstract

Objective: Previous epidemiological and experimental studies have yielded conflicting results regarding the influence of human micronutrient levels on the risk of colorectal polyps (CP). In our study, we conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) investigation to probe the link between 13 human micronutrients (calcium, selenium, magnesium, phosphorus, folate, vitamins B-6, B-12, C, D, beta-carotene, iron, zinc, and copper) and the genetic susceptibility to CP.

Methods: Summary statistics for CP (n = 463,010) were obtained from pan-European genome-wide association studies, and instrumental variables for 13 micronutrients were screened from published genome-wide association studies (GWAS). After selecting suitable instrumental variables, we performed a two-sample MR study, deploying sensitivity analyses to judge heterogeneity and pleiotropy, using inverse variance weighted methods as our primary estimation tool.

Results: Our study identified that a genetic predisposition to elevated toenail and circulating selenium or serum β-carotene concentrations lowers the risk of CP occurrence. However, no statistically significant association was observed between the other 11 micronutrients and the risk of CP.

Conclusion: The study findings provide evidence that the micronutrient selenium and β-carotene may confer protective effects against the development of CP.

Keywords: Colorectal polyps; Mendelian randomization study; Nutrition; Risk factors; Selenium; β-carotene.