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. 2024 May 31;103(22):e38256.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000038256.

Unraveling the links between circulating bioactive factors and epilepsy: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

Affiliations

Unraveling the links between circulating bioactive factors and epilepsy: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

Wencai Wang et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

Epidemiological research has shown that a variety of circulating bioactive factors are associated with epilepsy, including macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interleukin-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α. To further investigate the associations between epilepsy and 41 inflammatory cytokines, this Mendelian randomization was performed. This study presents genome-wide association study summary data on 41 inflammatory cytokines and epilepsy. Epilepsy incorporates generalized and focal epilepsy. A two-sample Mendelian randomization method was used. In order to analyze causal relationships between exposures and outcomes, the inverse variance-weighted method was mainly used. The findings suggested that increased levels of interleukin-1 receptor antagonists and interleukin-5 may be significantly associated with increased risks of focal epilepsy (beta: 0.080, P = .043; beta: 0.083, P = .015). In addition, regulated upon activation normal T cell expressed and secreted factor and Macrophage colony-stimulating factor may be significantly associated with generalized epilepsy (beta: 0.110, P = .042; beta: -0.114, P = .024). Furthermore, inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-10, interleukin-1β, interleukin-1Ra, interleukin-7, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interferon-γ may be identified as the result of focal epilepsy (beta: 0.152, P = .031; beta: 0.214, P = .037; beta: 0.214, P = .047; beta: 0.222, P = .031; beta: 0.224, P = .025; beta: 0.161, P = .018). This study suggests that interleukin-5 and interleukin-1 receptor antagonists are potentially correlated factors with focal epilepsy etiology, macrophage colony-stimulating factor and regulated upon activation normal T cell expressed and secreted factor are potentially correlated factors with generalized epilepsy etiology, while several inflammatory cytokines possibly contribute to focal epilepsy development downstream.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic of the study design in this bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(A) Scatter plots for IL-5 on focal epilepsy. (B) Scatter plots for IL-ra on focal epilepsy. (C) Scatter plots for RANTES on generalized epilepsy. (D) Scatter plots for MCSF on generalized epilepsy. (E) Scatter plot for the outcome of IL-10. (F) Scatter plot for the outcome of IL-1b. (G) Scatter plot for the outcome of IL-1ra. (H) Scatter plot for the outcome of IL-7. (I) Scatter plot for the outcome of IFN-γ. (J) Scatter plot for the outcome of TNF-α.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Forest plots of the causal relationship between 41 inflammatory factors and focal epilepsy in the result of IVW in the forward MR analysis.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Forest plots of the causal relationship between focal epilepsy and 41 inflammatory factors in the result of IVW in the reverse MR analysis.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
The GO and KEGG analyses of IL5 on focal epilepsy. Gene ontology (GO); Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG); molecular function (MF); cellular component (CC); biological process (BP).

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