Frontiers in Immunology (Oct 2024)

Understanding bladder cancer risk: Mendelian randomization analysis of immune cell and inflammatory factor influence

  • Hiocheng Un,
  • Wumier Wusimanjiang,
  • Wenhao Zhan,
  • Xinxin Zhang,
  • Minghao Li,
  • Jiahao Lei,
  • Renxuan Lin,
  • Yuliang Zhang,
  • Junxing Chen,
  • Zongren Wang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1460275
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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IntroductionThe intricate roles of immune cells and inflammatory factors in cancer, particularly their association with the risk of bladder cancer, are not well understood.MethodsThis study aimed to clarify potential causal relationships between these elements and the development of bladder cancer using genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics for 731 immune cell phenotypes and 91 circulating inflammatory factors (cases=2,053; controls=287,137). The primary analytical approach was Inverse Variance Weighting (IVW), supplemented by MR-Egger regression, weighted median, and weighted mode analyses. Sensitivity analyses included Cochran Q test, MR-Egger intercept test, and Leave-one-out test.ResultsThe findings indicated that monocytes are positively correlated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. On the contrary, double-negative (DN) T cells, HLA DR+CD8br, and CD28 on CD28+CD45RA+CD8br T cells exhibited an inverse correlation, suggesting a possible protective effect. Furthermore, inflammatory factors IL-20, IL-22RA1, and Eotaxin were significantly associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer.DiscussionThese results suggest that certain immune cell phenotypes and inflammatory factors may play a role in the development of bladder cancer and could serve as potential biomarkers for assessing tumor risk. The findings also offer new insights into the pathogenesis of bladder cancer, indicating a need for further investigation.

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