Causal effects of gut microbiota on scoliosis: A bidirectional two-sample mendelian randomization study.
Microbiome Signatures identifies and validates condition-specific microbiome shifts and interventions to accelerate clinical translation. Our multidisciplinary team supports clinicians, researchers, and innovators in turning microbiome science into actionable medicine.
Karen Pendergrass
What was studied?
The study investigated the causal effects of gut microbiota on scoliosis using a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach. Specifically, it aimed to determine whether variations in the composition of gut microbiome taxa could influence the risk of developing scoliosis. The study utilized genetic variants as instrumental variables (IVs) from a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) on gut microbiota and another GWAS on scoliosis to conduct the analysis.
Who was studied?
The study population consisted of participants from two major datasets. The gut microbiome data were obtained from the MiBioGen consortium, which included 16S rRNA gene sequencing profiles of 18,340 individuals from 24 cohorts, with the majority (n=13,266) of European ancestry. The scoliosis data were sourced from the FinnGen consortium R5, encompassing 1168 scoliosis cases and 164,682 controls, primarily of Finnish descent. These large-scale GWAS datasets provided the genetic variants used in the MR analysis.
What were the most important findings?
The key findings of the study were the identification of specific gut microbiome taxa that either increased or decreased the risk of scoliosis. These results were confirmed by sensitivity analyses, which showed no significant heterogeneity or pleiotropy, indicating the robustness of the findings:
Protective Bacteria Taxa: Bilophila (OR = 0.61), Eubacterium (eligens group) (OR = 0.47), Prevotella9 (OR = 0.69), Ruminococcus2 (OR = 0.54)
Bacteria Taxa Increasing Scoliosis Risk: Mollicutes RF9 (OR = 1.48), Catenibacterium (OR = 1.60), Coprococcus2 (OR = 2.14), Eubacterium (ventriosum group) (OR = 1.69), Lachnospiraceae (FCS020 group) (OR = 1.59), Ruminiclostridium6 (OR = 1.47), Ruminococcaceae UCG009 (OR = 1.39)
What are the greatest implications of this study?
The implications of this study are multifaceted and significant for the understanding and treatment of scoliosis:
Insight into Pathogenesis: The study provides new insights into the potential role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of scoliosis, suggesting that alterations in specific bacterial taxa may influence spinal health and development.
Potential for Biomarkers: Identifying gut microbiome compositions that are protective against or increase the risk of scoliosis could lead to the development of novel biomarkers for early detection and risk assessment.
Therapeutic Interventions:Understanding the causal relationship between gut microbiota and scoliosis opens up potential avenues for therapeutic interventions. Modifying gut microbiota through diet, probiotics, or other means could become a strategy for preventing or managing scoliosis.
Future Research Directions:The findings encourage further research using more sophisticated MR techniques and larger, more diverse datasets to confirm these results and explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. This could enhance the precision of causal estimates and expand the applicability of findings across different populations.