[Pubmed] Autoimmune thyroid disease and myasthenia gravis: a study bidirectional Mendelian randomization

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Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Feb 9;15:1310083. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1310083. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested a potential association between AITD and MG, but the evidence is limited and controversial, and the exact causal relationship remains uncertain.

OBJECTIVE: Therefore, we employed a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the causal relationship between AITD and MG.

METHODS: To explore the interplay between AITD and MG, We conducted MR studies utilizing GWAS-based summary statistics in the European ancestry. Several techniques were used to ensure the stability of the causal effect, such as random-effect inverse variance weighted, weighted median, MR-Egger regression, and MR-PRESSO. Heterogeneity was evaluated by calculating Cochran's Q value. Moreover, the presence of horizontal pleiotropy was investigated through MR-Egger regression and MR-PRESSO.

RESULTS: The IVW method indicates a causal relationship between both GD(OR 1.31,95%CI 1.08 to 1.60,P=0.005) and autoimmune hypothyroidism (OR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.47, P =0.002) with MG. However, there is no association found between FT4(OR 0.88,95%CI 0.65 to 1.18,P=0.406), TPOAb(OR: 1.34, 95% CI: 0.86 to 2.07, P =0.186), TSH(OR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.23, P =0.846), and MG. The reverse MR analysis reveals a causal relationship between MG and GD(OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.14 to 1.98, P =3.57e-3), with stable results. On the other hand, there is a significant association with autoimmune hypothyroidism(OR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.59, P =0.019), but it is considered unstable due to the influence of horizontal pleiotropy (MR PRESSO Distortion Test P < 0.001). MG has a higher prevalence of TPOAb(OR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.39 to 2.42, P =1.47e-5) positivity and may be linked to elevated TSH levels(Beta:0.08,95% CI:0.01 to 0.14,P =0.011), while there is no correlation between MG and FT4(Beta:-9.03e-3,95% CI:-0.07 to 0.05,P =0.796).

CONCLUSION: AITD patients are more susceptible to developing MG, and MG patients also have a higher incidence of GD.

PMID:38405140 | PMC:PMC10884276 | DOI:10.3389/fendo.2024.1310083


Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3840514 ... t9+e462414