Mendelian Randomization Analysis Reveals Causal Effects of the Human Gut Microbiota on Abdominal Obesity

• Published in: The Journal of nutrition 2021-06, Vol.151 (6), p.1401-1406
• Main Authors: Xu, Qian, Zhang, Shan-Shan, Wang, Rui-Rui, Weng, Yu-Jing, Cui, Xun, Wei, Xin-Tong, Ni, Jing-Jing, Ren, Hai-Gang, Zhang, Lei, Pei, Yu-Fang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Body fat; causal relationship; Fat metabolism; Female; Females; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Genetic analysis; Genome-Wide Association Study; Genomes; gut microbiota; Humans; Intestinal microflora; Male; Median (statistics); Mendelian randomization; Mendelian Randomization Analysis; Metabolism; Microbiota; Middle Aged; Nutrition; Obesity; Obesity, Abdominal - genetics; Obesity, Abdominal - microbiology; Randomization; Risk analysis; Sensitivity analysis; Species; Statistical analysis; trunk fat mass; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0022-3166; 1541-6100
• DOI: 10.1093/jn/nxab025

Although recent studies have revealed an association between the composition of the gut microbiota and obesity, whether specific gut microbiota cause obesity has not been determined. The aim of this study is to determine the causal relationship between specific gut microbiota and abdominal obesity. Based on genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics, we performed a 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate whether the gut microbiota affects abdominal obesity. Gut microbiota GWAS in 1126 twin pairs (age range, 18–89 years; 89% were females) from the TwinsUK study were used as exposure data. The primary outcome tested was trunk fat mass (TFM) GWAS in 492,805 participants (age range, 40–69 years; 54% were females) from the UK Biobank. The gut microbiota were classified at family, genus, and species levels. A feature was defined as a distinct family, genus, or species. MR analysis was mainly performed by an inverse variance–weighted test or Wald ratio test, depending on the number of instrumental variables (IVs) involved. A sensitivity analysis was performed on significant results by a weighted median test and a weighted genetic risk score (GRS) analysis. Results of MR analyses provided evidence of a causal association between 3 microbiota features and TFM, including 1 family [Lachnosiraceae; P = 0.02; β = 0.001 (SEE, 4.28 × 10−4)], 1 genus [Bifidobacterium; P = 5.0 × 10−9; β = −0.08 (SEE, 0.14)], and 1 species [Prausnitzii; P = 0.03; β = −0.007 (SEE, 0.003)]. Both the weighted median test and GRS analysis successfully validated the association of the genetically predicted family, Lachnosiraceae (Pweighted median = 0.03; PGRS = 0.004). Our findings provided evidence of a causal association between gut microbiota and TFM in UK adults and identified specific bacteria taxa that may regulate the fat metabolism, thus offering new direction for the treatment of obesity.