Assessing causal associations of hyperparathyroidism with blood counts and biochemical indicators: a Mendelian randomization study

Yan Jiang; Rumeng Chen; Shuling Xu; Yining Ding; Mengling Zhang; Meihua Bao; Binsheng He; Sen Li

doi:10.3389/fendo.2023.1295040

Assessing causal associations of hyperparathyroidism with blood counts and biochemical indicators: a Mendelian randomization study

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Dec 11:14:1295040. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1295040. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yan Jiang^#^{1

2

3}, Rumeng Chen^#⁴, Shuling Xu^#⁴, Yining Ding⁴, Mengling Zhang⁵, Meihua Bao^{2

3}, Binsheng He², Sen Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Basic Medicine, Changsha Medical University, Changsha, China.
² The Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of the TCM Agricultural Biogenomics, Changsha Medical University, Changsha, China.
³ Hunan Key Laboratory Of The Research And Development Of Novel Pharmaceutical Preparations, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Changsha Medical University, Changsha, China.
⁴ School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
⁵ School of Stomatology, Changsha Medical University, Changsha, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: The existing literature on the relationship of hyperparathyroidism with both blood counts and biochemical indicators primarily comprises observational studies, which have produced inconsistent findings. This study aimed to evaluate the causal relationship between hyperparathyroidism and blood counts and biochemical indicators.

Methods: Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted to investigate the associations between hyperparathyroidism and the identified 55 blood counts and biochemical indicators. The genome-wide association study (GWAS) for hyperparathyroidism data was obtained from FinnGen, while the GWASs for the blood counts and biochemical indicators were sourced from the UK Biobank (UKBB).

Results: The MR analysis using the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method revealed potential causality between genetically predicted hyperparathyroidism and seven out of 55 blood counts and biochemical indicators. These markers include "Platelet count" (Beta = -0.041; 95% CI: -0.066, -0.016; p = 0.001), "Platelet distribution width (PDW)" (Beta = 0.031; 95% CI: 0.006, 0.056; p = 0.016), "Mean platelet volume (MPV)" (Beta = 0.043; 95% CI: 0.010, 0.076; p = 0.011), "Vitamin D" (Beta = -0.038; 95% CI: -0.063, -0.013; p = 0.003), "Calcium (Ca²⁺)" (Beta = 0.266; 95% CI: 0.022, 0.509; p = 0.033), "Phosphate" (Beta = -0.114; 95% CI: -0.214, -0.014; p = 0.025), and "Alkaline phosphatase (ALP)" (Beta = 0.030; 95% CI: 0.010, 0.049; p = 0.003).

Conclusion: The findings of our study revealed a suggestive causal relationship between hyperparathyroidism and blood cell count as well as biochemical markers. This presents a novel perspective for further investigating the etiology and pathological mechanisms underlying hyperparathyroidism.

Keywords: Mendelian randomization; biochemical indicators; blood counts; causal association; hyperparathyroidism.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alkaline Phosphatase
Genome-Wide Association Study*
Humans
Hyperparathyroidism*
Mendelian Randomization Analysis
Platelet Count

Substances

Alkaline Phosphatase

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the BUCM Precision Cultivation Program (Grant No. JZPY-202205), the BUCM Research Development Fund (Grant No. 2021-ZXFZJJ-052), the Scientific Research Project of Hunan Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. 22C0676), and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2021JJ40643).