Primary biliary cirrhosis and psoriasis: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

BackgroundPrimary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and psoriasis are frequently observed to co-occur in clinical settings. However, the causal associations and underlying mechanisms between PBC and psoriasis remain poorly defined.MethodsIn this study, we conducted bidirectional MR analysis to explore the causal relationship between PBC and psoriasis using four MR methods: inverse-variance weighted, MR-Egger regression, weighted median, and weighted mode. Sensitivity analyses were carried out, employing different models and testing methods for comparison to assess the influence of heterogeneity and pleiotropy on our findings and to confirm the robustness of these results.ResultsA causal relationship between the risk of PBC and psoriasis was identified, as confirmed by IVW analysis (OR: 1.081, 95%CI: 1.028~1.137, P<0.05). The other three MR methods also produced similar results. However, psoriasis did not have a causal effect on PBC risk (OR: 1.022, 95%CI: 0.935~1.118, P>0.05). The intercept of MR-Egger regression was 0.0013 (P>0.05), indicating that genetic pleiotropy did not influence the results. Additionally, the leave-one-out analysis demonstrated the robustness of our MR findings.ConclusionThis study reveals a causal relationship between PBC and psoriasis, with PBC increasing the risk of psoriasis, but not the reverse. This potential causal relationship offers a new perspective on the etiology of PBC.

Dissecting causal relationships between primary biliary cholangitis and extrahepatic autoimmune diseases based on Mendelian randomization

“…Our study indicates that PBC has a positive impact on psoriasis in one direction. This is consistent with the findings of Zhao et al 54 , despite using different datasets for PBC and PoS, which enhances the reliability of our results. As the onset of PBC is gradual and can be masked during psoriasis treatment, it is crucial for psoriasis patients to distinguish between drug-induced liver enzyme abnormalities and overlapping PBC disease 55 .…”