The causal association between peripheral blood eosinophils and nasal polyps: a Mendelian randomization study.

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Guan-Jiang Huang, Zi-Qing Chen, Zhi-Jun Fan, Shao-Hua Li

Author Information

Guan-Jiang Huang: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China. ORCID
Zi-Qing Chen: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China.
Zhi-Jun Fan: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China. zhijunfanzyy@outlook.com.
Shao-Hua Li: Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China. 16035637@qq.com.

PMID: 37466661 DOI: 10.1007/s00405-023-08129-z

OBJECTIVE: Observational studies suggested that peripheral blood eosinophils were associated with the risk of nasal polyps. However, these studies did not confirm the causality. This study aims to apply Mendelian randomization (MR) method to comprehensively assess the potential causal association between peripheral blood eosinophils and nasal polyps.
METHODS: Genetic instrumental variables were extracted from the largest available genome-wide association study (GWAS) of European participants, which were used to investigate the relationship between peripheral blood eosinophils and nasal polyps. The inverse variance weighted method, the MR Egger method, and the weighted median method were applied for this analysis. MR-Egger intercept tests, leave-one-out analyses, and funnel plots were performed for the sensitivity analysis.
RESULTS: With the inverse variance weighted method, the MR analysis suggested that there was a significant difference between peripheral blood eosinophils and the risk of nasal polyps (ukb-a-97, OR 1.004, 95% CI 1.003-1.005, p < 0.001; ukb-a-541, OR 1.005, 95% CI 1.004-1.006, p < 0.001; ukb-b-7211, OR 1.004, 95% CI 1.003-1.005, p < 0.001; ukb-b-8425, OR 1.004, 95% CI 1.003-1.005, p < 0.001; finn-b-J10_NASALPOLYP, OR 3.089, 95% CI 2.537-3.761, p < 0.001). Consistent results were also proved by using the weighted median method and the MR Egger method.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings reveal the causal effect of peripheral blood eosinophils on the increased risk of nasal polyps.

Causality Mendelian randomization Nasal polyp Peripheral blood eosinophil Risk

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Humans

Eosinophils

Nasal Polyps

Genome-Wide Association Study

Mendelian Randomization Analysis

Causality

Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Journal Article

OpenLB
Open Library of Bioscience