Hematological markers and prostate cancer risk: A Mendelian randomization study

Background: Prospective study has indicated an association between hematological markers and the risk of prostate cancer. However, such associations are easily influenced by confounding or reverse causality. Therefore, we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to assess the independent causal effects of hematological markers on the risk of prostate cancer. Methods: We conducted Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses using publicly available full association studies (GWAS) data, which included 79,148 cases of prostate cancer and 61,106 controls. The analysis revealed that 378 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were strongly correlated with mean corpuscular volume, 366 SNPs were tightly linked with mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and 102 SNPs were intricately connected with mean hemoglobin concentration. The primary estimate was obtained using the inverse-variance weighted method, while MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier, MR-Egger, and weighted median methods were utilized to identify heterogeneity and pleiotropy. Results: In the meta-analysis of our results, elevated mean corpuscular volume was found to be associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer (odds ratio [OR] 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.90–0.98; P = 0.004). Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (odds ratio [OR] 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91–0.99; P = 0.019) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (odds ratio [OR] 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.81–0.98; P = 0.023) are both associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer. Conclusions: This Mendelian randomization study provides evidence supporting the notion that elevated levels of mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) may lower the risk of prostate cancer.