iScience (Oct 2024)

Association of inflammatory cytokines with lung function, chronic lung diseases, and COVID-19

  • Marina O. Rontogianni,
  • Dipender Gill,
  • Emmanouil Bouras,
  • Alexandros-Georgios Asimakopoulos,
  • Ioanna Tzoulaki,
  • Ville Karhunen,
  • Terho Lehtimäki,
  • Olli Raitakari,
  • Matthias Wielscher,
  • Veikko Salomaa,
  • Sirpa Jalkanen,
  • Marko Salmi,
  • Markku Timonen,
  • James Yarmolinsky,
  • Jing Chen,
  • Martin D. Tobin,
  • Abril G. Izquierdo,
  • Karl-Heinz Herzig,
  • Anne E. Ioannides,
  • Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin,
  • Abbas Dehghan,
  • Konstantinos K. Tsilidis

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27, no. 10
p. 110704

Abstract

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Summary: We investigated the effects of 35 inflammatory cytokines on respiratory outcomes, including COVID-19, asthma (atopic and non-atopic), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pulmonary function indices, using Mendelian randomization and colocalization analyses. The emerging associations were further explored using observational analyses in the UK Biobank. We found an inverse association between genetically predicted macrophage colony stimulating factor (MCSF), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM), and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 with risk of COVID-19 outcomes. sICAM was positively associated with atopic asthma risk, whereas tumor necrosis factor-alfa showed an inverse association. A positive association was shown between interleukin-18 and COPD risk (replicated in observational analysis), whereas an inverse association was shown for interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra). IL-1ra and monocyte chemotactic protein-3 were positively associated with lung function indices, whereas inverse associations were shown for MCSF and interleukin-18 (replicated in observational analysis). Our results point to these cytokines as potential pharmacological targets for respiratory traits.

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