Causal relationship between immune cells and neurodegenerative diseases: a two-sample Mendelian randomisation study

Abstract

Background: There is increasing evidence that the types of immune cells are associated with various neurodegenerative diseases. However, it is currently unclear whether these associations reflect causal relationships.

Objective: To elucidate the causal relationship between immune cells and neurodegenerative diseases, we conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

Materials and methods: The exposure and outcome GWAS data used in this study were obtained from an open-access database (https://gwas.mrcieu.ac.uk/), the study employed two-sample MR analysis to assess the causal relationship between 731 immune cell features and four neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS). All immune cell data was obtained from Multiple MR methods were used to minimize bias and obtain reliable estimates of the causal relationship between the variables of interest and the outcomes. Instrumental variable selection criteria were restricted to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of the causal relationship between species of immune cells and the risk of these neurodegenerative diseases.

Results: The study identified potential causal relationships between various immune cells and different neurodegenerative diseases. Specifically, we found that 8 different types of immune cells have potential causal relationships with AD, 1 type of immune cells has potential causal relationships with PD, 6 different types of immune cells have potential causal relationships with ALS, and 6 different types of immune cells have potential causal relationships with MS.

Conclusion: Our study, through genetic means, demonstrates close causal associations between the specific types of immune cells and AD, PD, ALS and MS, providing useful guidance for future clinical researches.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Mendelian randomization; Parkinson’s disease; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; immune cells; multiple sclerosis; neurodegenerative diseases.