A metabolome-wide Mendelian randomization study prioritizes potential causal circulating metabolites for multiple sclerosis

To prioritize circulating metabolites that likely play causal roles in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis was performed to estimate the causal effects of 571 circulating metabolites on the risk of MS. Genetic instruments for circulating metabolites were obtained from three previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of the blood metabolome (N = 7824; 24,925; and 115,078; respec-tively), while genetic associations with MS were from a large GWAS by the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (14,802 cases and 26,703 control). The primary analysis was performed with the multi-plicative random-effect inverse variance-weighted method, while multiple sensitivity analyses were conducted with the weighted median, weighted mode, MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO. A total of 29 metabolites had suggestive evidence of causal associations with MS. Genetically instrumented levels of serine (OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.25-1.95), lysine (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.01-1.38), acetone (OR = 2.45, 95% CI = 1.02-5.90), and acetoa-cetate (OR = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.14-5.34) were associated with a higher MS risk. Total cholesterol and phos-pholipids in large very-low-density lipoprotein were associated with a lower MS risk (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.69-1.00; OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.68-0.95), but risk-increasing associations (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.04-1.40; OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.00-1.28) were observed for the same two lipids in very large high-density lipoprotein. Our metabolome-wide Mendelian randomization study prioritized a list of circulating metabolites, such as serine, lysine, acetone, acetoacetate, and lipids, that likely have causal associations with MS.

Automated summary

In order to determine circulating metabolites that are likely to play a causal role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis was performed. The analysis identified several metabolites, including serine, lysine, acetone, acetoacetate, and lipids, that have suggestive evidence of causal associations with MS. These findings provide insights into the potential underlying mechanisms of MS and can aid in the development of targeted therapeutic strategies.