Circulating Galectin-3 Levels Are Not Associated With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Study

Context: The impact of galectin-3 inhibitors on nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD)-related outcomes is currently under investigation in randomized clinical trials. Whether there is a causal association between plasma galectin-3 levels and NAFLD is unknown. Objective: To evaluate the causal effect of circulating galectin-3 levels on NAFLD as well as >800 other human diseases. Design: Inverse variance-weighted (IVW) Mendelian randomization (MR) and phenome-wide MR. Setting: Summary statistics of genome-wide association studies. Patients: Participants of the UK Biobank, Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE), FinnGen, Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease (PREVEND), and IMPROVE cohorts. Intervention: Identification of independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with galectin-3 levels (P<5x10(-8)) in the PREVEND (14 SNPs) and IMPROVE (3 SNPs) cohorts. Main outcome measures: Presence of NAFLD in a meta-analysis of genome-wide association study of the eMERGE, UK Biobank, and FinnGen cohorts (3042 NAFLD cases and 504 853 controls), as well as >800 other human diseases in the UK Biobank and FinnGen. Results: Using IVW-MR, we found no causal association between galectin-3 levels and NAFLD in the meta-analysis of the 3 cohorts or in each individual cohort. After correction for multiple testing, we found no causal association between galectin-3 levels and >800 human disease-related traits. Conclusions: This MR study revealed no causal associations between circulating galectin-3 levels and NAFLD or any other disease traits, suggesting that plasma galectin-3 levels may not be directly implicated in the pathogenesis of NAFLD or other human diseases.

Automated summary

This study did not find any causal associations between circulating galectin-3 levels and NAFLD or any other disease traits, suggesting that plasma galectin-3 levels may not be directly implicated in the pathogenesis of NAFLD or other human diseases.