Causal relationships between gut microbrome and digestive system diseases: a two-sample Mendelian Randomization study

Abstract Background Growing evidences of recent studies have shown that gut microbrome is causally related to digestive system diseases. However, causal relationships between the gut microbiota and the risk of digestive system diseases still remain unclear. Methods We utilized identified gut microbiota based on class, family, genus, order and phylum information and digestive system diseases (DSDs) GWAS dataset for two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used to evaluate causal relationships between gut microbiota and seven DSDs. Finally, we verified the robustness of MR results based on heterogeneity and pleiotropy analysis. Results We discovered 15 causal associations with genetic liabilities in the gut microbiota and DSDs, such as genus Victivallis, genus RuminococcaceaeUCG005, genus Ruminococcusgauvreauiigroup, genus Oxalobacter and so on. Conclusions Our MR analysis revealed that the gut microbiota is causally associated with DSDs. Further researches of the gut microbiota and the pathogenesis of DSDs are still significant and provide new methods for the prevention and treatment of DSD.