eLife (Oct 2022)

Genetically predicted high IGF-1 levels showed protective effects on COVID-19 susceptibility and hospitalization: a Mendelian randomisation study with data from 60 studies across 25 countries

  • Xinxuan Li,
  • Yajing Zhou,
  • Shuai Yuan,
  • Xuan Zhou,
  • Lijuan Wang,
  • Jing Sun,
  • Lili Yu,
  • Jinghan Zhu,
  • Han Zhang,
  • Nan Yang,
  • Shuhui Dai,
  • Peige Song,
  • Susanna C Larsson,
  • Evropi Theodoratou,
  • Yimin Zhu,
  • Xue Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.79720
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Background: Epidemiological studies observed gender differences in COVID-19 outcomes, however, whether sex hormone plays a causal in COVID-19 risk remains unclear. This study aimed to examine associations of sex hormone, sex hormones-binding globulin (SHBG), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and COVID-19 risk. Methods: Two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) study was performed to explore the causal associations between testosterone, estrogen, SHBG, IGF-1, and the risk of COVID-19 (susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity) using genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary level data from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (N=1,348,701). Random-effects inverse variance weighted (IVW) MR approach was used as the primary MR method and the weighted median, MR-Egger, and MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO) test were conducted as sensitivity analyses. Results: Higher genetically predicted IGF-1 levels have nominally significant association with reduced risk of COVID-19 susceptibility and hospitalization. For one standard deviation increase in genetically predicted IGF-1 levels, the odds ratio was 0.77 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61–0.97, p=0.027) for COVID-19 susceptibility, 0.62 (95% CI: 0.25–0.51, p=0.018) for COVID-19 hospitalization, and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.52–1.38, p=0.513) for COVID-19 severity. There was no evidence that testosterone, estrogen, and SHBG are associated with the risk of COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity in either overall or sex-stratified TSMR analysis. Conclusions: Our study indicated that genetically predicted high IGF-1 levels were associated with decrease the risk of COVID-19 susceptibility and hospitalization, but these associations did not survive the Bonferroni correction of multiple testing. Further studies are needed to validate the findings and explore whether IGF-1 could be a potential intervention target to reduce COVID-19 risk. Funding: We acknowledge support from NSFC (LR22H260001), CRUK (C31250/A22804), SHLF (Hjärt-Lungfonden, 20210351), VR (Vetenskapsrådet, 2019-00977), and SCI (Cancerfonden).

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