Causality of anti- Helicobacter pylori IgG levels on myocardial infarction and potential pathogenesis: a Mendelian randomization study

Qiubo Wang; Yingbo Liu; Zhenxing Xu; Zhimiao Wang; Mei Xue; Xinran Li; Ye Wang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1259579

Causality of anti- Helicobacter pylori IgG levels on myocardial infarction and potential pathogenesis: a Mendelian randomization study

Front Microbiol. 2023 Sep 14:14:1259579. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1259579. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Qiubo Wang^{1

2}, Yingbo Liu^{3

4}, Zhenxing Xu¹, Zhimiao Wang¹, Mei Xue¹, Xinran Li¹, Ye Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong Medicine and Health Key Laboratory of Cardiac Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia, Jinan, China.
² Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
³ Center for Reproductive Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Reproductive Endocrinology of Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan, China.

Abstract

Background: Previous observational studies have shown that a potential relationship between anti-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) IgG levels and Myocardial Infarction (MI). Nevertheless, the evidence for the causal inferences remains disputable. To further clarify the relationship between anti-H. pylori IgG levels and MI and explore its pathogenesis, we conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

Methods: In this study, we used two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) to assess the causality of anti-H. pylori IgG levels on MI and potential pathogenesis, 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to anti-H. pylori IgG levels were obtained from the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI). Summary data from a large-scale GWAS meta-analysis of MI was utilized as the outcome dataset. Summary data of mediators was obtained from the FinnGen database, the UK Biobank, the EBI database, MRC-IEU database, the International Consortium of Blood Pressure, the Consortium of Within family GWAS. Inverse variance weighted (IVW) analysis under the fixed effect model was identified as our main method. To ensure the reliability of the findings, many sensitivity analyses were performed.

Results: Our study revealed that increases of anti-H. pylori IgG levels were significantly related to an increased risk of MI (OR, 1.104; 95% CI,1.042-1.169; p = 7.084 × 10^-4) and decreases in HDL cholesterol levels (β, -0.016; 95% CI, -0.026 to -0.006; p = 2.02 × 10^-3). In addition, there was no heterogeneity or pleiotropy in our findings.

Conclusion: This two-sample MR analysis revealed the causality of anti-H. pylori IgG levels on MI, which might be explained by lower HDL cholesterol levels. Further research is needed to clarify the results.

Keywords: HDL cholesterol; Mendelian randomization; anti-Helicobacter pylori IgG levels; causal association; myocardial infarction.