Causal role of immune cells on cervical cancer onset revealed by two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Cervical cancer (CC) is a prevalent gynecological cancer worldwide that significantly impacts the quality of life and the physical and mental well-being of women. However, there have been limited studies utilizing Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the connection between immune cells and CC. This study is to investigate the causal effects of immune traits on CC and non-neoplastic conditions of the cervix. The GWAS data for 731 immunophenotypes and six GWAS data for CC from the FinnGen database were downloaded. Subsequently, a two-sample MR analysis was conducted using the MR Egger, Weighted median, Inverse variance weighted (IVW), Simple mode, and Weighted mode methods. Our study has identified the potential causal effects of immune traits on inflammatory diseases of the cervix, other noninflammatory disorders of the cervix uteri, carcinoma in situ of cervix uteri, adenocarcinomas of cervix, squamous cell neoplasms and carcinoma of cervix, as well as malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri, with the respective numbers being 8, 6, 11, 8, 23, and 12, respectively. A strong correlation between classic monocytes and various cervical diseases was revealed. Furthermore, we discovered that B cells expressing BAFF-R have the ability to impede the advancement of malignant CC, specifically squamous cell neoplasms and carcinoma of cervix. Our study has demonstrated a significant association between immune traits and both CC and non-neoplastic conditions of the cervix through two-sample Mendelian randomization, providing valuable insights for future clinical research.