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. 2022 Dec 8:13:1063110.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1063110. eCollection 2022.

Causal association between systemic lupus erythematosus and the risk of dementia: A Mendelian randomization study

Tianyu Jin  1   2 , Wei Huang  3 , Fangzheng Cao  2 , Xinyue Yu  4 , Shunyuan Guo  1 , Zhenhua Ying  3 , Chao Xu  1
Affiliations

Causal association between systemic lupus erythematosus and the risk of dementia: A Mendelian randomization study

Tianyu Jin et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Introduction: It is well-documented that systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with dementia. However, the genetic causality of this association remains unclear. Mendelian randomization (MR) was used to investigate the potential causal relationship between SLE and dementia risk in the current study.

Methods: We selected 45 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with SLE from publicly available genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Summary level statistics were obtained from the dementia GWAS database. MR estimates were performed using the inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, MR-Egger method and weighted median (WM) method. Cochran's Q test, the intercept of MR-Egger, MR-Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier method, leave-one-out analysis and funnel plot were applied for sensitivity analyses.

Results: No significant causal association was found between SLE and any type of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies. These findings were robust across several sensitivity analyses.

Conclusion: Overall, our findings do not support a causal association between SLE and dementia risk.

Keywords: Mendelian randomization; causality; dementia; risk; systemic lupus erythematosus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
An overview of the study design. SNP, single nucleotide polymorphisms.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The flow chart of the MR process. SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphisms; MR-PRESSO, MR-Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier.
Figure 3
Figure 3
MR results and sensitivity analysis for association of SLE and dementia risk.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scatter plot of the association between SLE and all dementia (A), Alzheimer’s disease (B), vascular dementia (C), frontotemporal dementia (D), dementia with lewy body (E). Three lines reveal the estimated effect sizes by MR methods (inverse‐variance weighted, MR-Egger and weighted median).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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