ObjectiveTo explore the single locus mutation that related to hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection by means of genome-wide association study (GWAS) in Chinese Han patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).MethodsA total of 946 patients with pulmonary TB enrolled between March 2013 and March 2018 were genotyped by Illumina Human Omni Express gene chip. After quality control, 389 972 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of 703 patients with single TB infection and 53 patients with TB-HBV co-infection were included in the follow-up association analysis.ResultsThe SNP with the strongest statistical correlation signal was rs118122819 (P=2.923×10−12, odds ratio=7.933) located on chromosome 8p23.1. Other potential susceptibility genes included CDH4 (rs73309833), MARCH1 (rs3797020), and DNER (rs13393112), etc. In addition, a strong linkage imbalance between rs118122819 and rs4840365 (D’=0.88, r2=0.76) was found, while rs4840365 was located in the MFHAS1 gene region.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence for the presence of susceptibility gene locus for HBV co-infection in pulmonary TB patients, and provides important clues for the mechanism research, disease prevention, and treatment of co-infection. But these associations must be replicated and validated in larger studies.
Objective This study employs Mendelian randomization analysis to explore the causal relationship between dietary habits and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). MethodsWe obtained data from the MRC-IEU database on five dietary habits as instrumental variables for exposure "never eating dairy products" "never eating eggs or foods containing eggs" "never eating sugar or foods/drinks containing sugar" "never eating wheat products" and "I eat all of the above". Summary data related to SLE were retrieved from the MRC-IEU database for the discovery cohort (designated as MSLE) and from a Finnish database for the validation cohort (recorded as FSLE). Two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses were conducted using inverse variance weighting (IVW), MR-Egger, weighted median, Simple Mode, and Weighted Mode methods to investigate the causal relationship between dietary habits and SLE. The MR-Egger intercept test was performed to assess the presence of horizontal pleiotropy, while the leave-one-out method was employed to verify the stability of the results, with Cochran’s Q test and funnel plots used to evaluate heterogeneity. ResultsMendelian randomization analysis indicated that never eating wheat products increases the risk of developing SLE (IVW: P<0.05). In contrast, there was no significant causal relationship between the consumption of dairy products, eggs or foods containing eggs, or the consumption of all of the above with SLE (IVW: P>0.05). Additionally, there was no significant causal relationship between never sugar or foods/drinks containing sugar and MSLE (IVW: P=0.877), although a potential causal association with FSLE was suggested (IVW: P=0.016). The MR-Egger intercept test indicated no evidence of horizontal pleiotropy (P>0.05). ConclusionNever eating wheat products may be an independent risk factor for SLE. However, the causal relationship between never sugar or foods/drinks containing sugar and SLE remains indeterminate.