Telomere length and multiple sclerosis: a Mendelian randomization study

• Published in: International journal of neuroscience 2024-06, Vol.ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), p.1-5
• Main Authors: Ma, Yazhou, Wang, Mengmeng, Chen, Xin, Ruan, Wang, Yao, Jianrong, Lian, Xuegan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Mendelian randomization; Multiple sclerosis; telomere
• ISSN: 0020-7454; 1543-5245; 1563-5279
• DOI: 10.1080/00207454.2022.2098737

Previous studies have established that telomere length is associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, confounding factors and reverse causality bias can impair observational research. Here, we conducted a two-sample MR study to see if telomere length is causally linked to MS using publically available GWAS summary statistics. We screened 13 independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to leukocyte telomere length in a recent genome-wide association meta-analysis, which was available for 78,592 samples of European ancestry. The summary statistics for MS were from the latest meta-analyses conducted by the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC), which included 115,803 European participants (47,429 MS, 68,374 controls). We found that leukocyte telomere length and MS are correlated (IVW estimate of odds ratio (OR): 2.13 per 1-SD increase in genetically determined telomere length, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.55-2.92, p = 3.18 × 10 −6 ). Our MR study supported that leukocyte telomere length and MS have a positive causal relationship. Further researches are warranted to elucidate the physiological mechanism.