The causal correlation between gut microbiota abundance and pathogenesis of cervical cancer: a bidirectional mendelian randomization study

Abstract

BackgroundObservational studies and animal experiments suggested potential relevance between gut microbiota (GM) and cervical cancer (CC), but the relevance of this association remains to be clarified.MethodsWe performed a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to explore whether there was a causal correlation between GM and CC, and the direction of causality.ResultsIn primary outcomes, we found that a higher abundance of class Clostridia, family Family XI, genus Alloprevotella, genus Ruminiclostridium 9, and order Clostridiales predicted higher risk of CC, and a higher abundance of class Lentisphaeria, family Acidaminococcaceae, genus Christensenellaceae R7 group, genus Marvinbryantia, order Victivallales, phylum Actinobacteria, and phylum Lentisphaerae predicted lower risk of CC. During verifiable outcomes, we found that a higher abundance of class Methanobacteria, family Actinomycetaceae, family Methanobacteriaceae, genus Lachnospiraceae UCG 010, genus Methanobrevibacter, order Actinomycetales, and order Methanobacteriales predicted a higher risk of CC, and a higher abundance of family Streptococcaceae, genus Dialister, and phylum Bacteroidetes predicted a lower risk of CC, and vice versa.ConclusionOur study implied a mutual causality between GM and CC, which provided a novel concept for the occurrence and development of CC, and might promote future functional or clinical analysis.