Association between the gut microbiota and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Background: Increasing studies have shown that there is a significant association between gut microbiota and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Aims: To show the potential association between gut microbiota and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.

Methods: We analyzed summary statistics from genome-wide association studies of gut microbiota and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and conducted Mendelian randomization studies to evaluate relationships between these factors.

Results: Of the 211 gut microbiota taxa examined, the inverse variance weighted method identified Lactobacillaceae (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.72 - 0.95, P = 0.007), Christensenellaceae (OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.59 - 0.92, P = 0.007), and Intestinibacter (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.73 - 0.99, P = 0.035) were negatively correlated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. And Coriobacteriia (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.01 - 1.42, P = 0.038), Actinomycetales (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.02 - 1.53, P = 0.031), Oxalobacteraceae (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.01 - 1.21, P = 0.036), Ruminococcaceae_UCG005 (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.01 - 1.38, P = 0.033) are positively associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Conclusions: Our study found that the abundance of certain strains was associated with the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Keywords: Causal effects; Gut microbiota; Mendelian randomization; Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.