Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2024 Apr 19:15:1360132.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1360132. eCollection 2024.

Association between gut microbiota and spinal stenosis: a two-sample mendelian randomization study

Jian Li #  1 , Jinpeng Wei #  1 , Jiani Wang  2 , Tao Xu  3 , Baofeng Wu  4 , Shuhan Yang  1 , Shaoze Jing  1 , Hua Wu  1 , Haihu Hao  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Association between gut microbiota and spinal stenosis: a two-sample mendelian randomization study

Jian Li et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Considerable evidence has unveiled a potential correlation between gut microbiota and spinal degenerative diseases. However, only limited studies have reported the direct association between gut microbiota and spinal stenosis. Hence, in this study, we aimed to clarify this relationship using a two-sample mendelian randomization (MR) approach.

Materials and methods: Data for two-sample MR studies was collected and summarized from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of gut microbiota (MiBioGen, n = 13, 266) and spinal stenosis (FinnGen Biobank, 9, 169 cases and 164, 682 controls). The inverse variance-weighted meta-analysis (IVW), complemented with weighted median, MR-Egger, weighted mode, and simple mode, was used to elucidate the causality between gut microbiota and spinal stenosis. In addition, we employed mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) and the MR-Egger intercept test to assess horizontal multiplicity. Cochran's Q test to evaluate heterogeneity, and "leave-one-out" sensitivity analysis to determine the reliability of causality. Finally, an inverse MR analysis was performed to assess the reverse causality.

Results: The IVW results indicated that two gut microbial taxa, the genus Eubacterium fissicatena group and the genus Oxalobacter, have a potential causal relationship with spinal stenosis. Moreover, eight potential associations between genetic liability of the gut microbiota and spinal stenosis were implied. No significant heterogeneity of instrumental variables or horizontal pleiotropy were detected. In addition, "leave-one-out" sensitivity analysis confirmed the reliability of causality. Finally, the reverse MR analysis revealed that no proof to substantiate the discernible causative relationship between spinal stenosis and gut microbiota.

Conclusion: This analysis demonstrated a possible causal relationship between certain particular gut microbiota and the occurrence of spinal stenosis. Further studies focused on the mechanism of gut microbiota-mediated spinal stenosis can lay the groundwork for targeted prevention, monitoring, and treatment of spinal stenosis.

Keywords: causal inference; gut microbiota; single nucleotide polymorphism; spinal stenosis; two-sample mendelian randomization.

PubMed Disclaimer

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
Schematic representation of the a two-sample mendelian randomization analysis. SNPs, single nucleotide polymorphisms.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The flow diagram of instrument variables selection.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatter plots for the causal association between gut microbiota and spinal stenosis. (A) genus Eubacterium fissicatena group; (B) genus Oxalobacter.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Heatmap illustrating eight bacterial taxa were revealed to be suggestively related with spinal stenosis, with ** indicating P < 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Leave-one-out plots for the causal association between gut microbiota and spinal stenosis. (A) genus Eubacterium fissicatena group; (B) genus Oxalobacter.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Parenteau CS, Lau EC, Campbell IC, Courtney A. Prevalence of spine degeneration diagnosis by type, age, gender, and obesity using Medicare data. Sci Rep. (2021) 11:5389. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84724-6 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Katz JN, Zimmerman ZE, Mass H, Makhni MC. Diagnosis and management of lumbar spinal stenosis: A review. JAMA. (2022) 327:1688–99. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.5921 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ravindra VM, Senglaub SS, Rattani A, Dewan MC, Hartl R, Bisson E, et al. . Degenerative lumbar spine disease: estimating global incidence and worldwide volume. Global Spine J. (2018) 8:784–94. doi: 10.1177/2192568218770769 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fang EF, Xie C, Schenkel JA, Wu C, Long Q, Cui H, et al. . A research agenda for ageing in China in the 21st century (2nd edition): Focusing on basic and translational research, long-term care, policy and social networks. Ageing Res Rev. (2020) 64:101174. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2020.101174 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Afzaal M, Saeed F, Shah YA, Hussain M, Rabail R, Socol CT, et al. . Human gut microbiota in health and disease: Unveiling the relationship. Front Microbiol. (2022) 13:999001. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.999001 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms