Causal role of immune cells in lung cancer: Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Abstract In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between immune cell responses and lung cancer (LC), which is responsible for a significant number of cancer-related deaths globally and poses a serious threat to human well-being. Numerous studies have suggested a potential connection between immune cell activity and LC; nevertheless, the exact causal role of immune cells in LCremains uncertain. To address this gap in knowledge, we conducted a thorough two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to establish a causal link between immune cell signatures and LC.By analyzing genetic data that is accessible to the public, we investigated potential cause-and-effect relationships between 731 immune cell signatures and the risk of LC. We considered four different types of immune signatures, including median fluorescence intensities (MFI), relative cell (RC), absolute cell (AC), and morphological parameters (MP). To ensure the reliability and validity of our findings, we conducted thorough sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness, variability, and potential confounding effects of the results.The analysis of Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) revealed a significant causal impact of 31 immune cells on LC. Conversely, the results of Reverse MR indicated a significant causal association between LC and 3 immune cells. By employing genetic methods, our study has effectively illustrated the strong connection between immune cells and LC, offering valuable insights for future clinical investigations.