Causal relationships between interleukins, interferons and COVID-19 risk: a Mendelian randomization study

ABSTRACT

Observational studies have shown close associations between COVID-19 risk and cytokines, especially interleukins (ILs) and interferons (IFNs). However, the causal relationships between ILs, IFNs and COVID-19 were still unclear. To resolve the problem, we conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis between COVID-19 and 47 cytokines, including 35 ILs and 12 IFNs. First, three methods were applied to estimate causal effects by using single nucleotide polymorphisms as instrumental variables (IVs). Subsequently, the MR–Egger method was used to estimate the horizontal pleiotropy of IVs. Finally, sensitivity analyses were applied to assess the robustness of results. As a result, one IFN (IFN-W1) and five ILs (IL-5, IL-6, IL-13, IL-16 and IL-37) were identified to significantly decrease the COVID-19 risk. In contrast, one IFN (IFNG) and five ILs (IL-3, IL-8, IL-27, IL-31 and IL-36β) were found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of COVID-19. In summary, the findings of this study provide insights into potential therapeutic interventions for COVID-19.

KEYWORDS:

• Mendelian randomization
• COVID-19
• Interferon
• Interleukin

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Tou-Yan Innovation Team Program of the Heilongjiang Province (2019-15), National Natural Science Foundation of China (62222104, 62172130, 61871160) and Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Fund (LBH-Q20030).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2023.2252461

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the The Tou-Yan Innovation Team Program of the Heilongjiang Province (2019-15), National Natural Science Foundation of China (62222104, 62172130, 61871160), and Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Fund (LBH-Q20030) .