Exploring the causal relationship between immune cells and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a bi-directional Mendelian randomization study

The potential pathogenic mechanism of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is widely recognized to involve immune dysregulation. However, the current pool of studies has yet to establish a unanimous agreement regarding the correlation between various types of immune cells and IPF.

By conducting a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis using publicly available genetic data, the study examined the causal relationship between IPF and 731 immune cells. To ensure the reliability of the results, combined sensitivity analyses and inverse Mendelian analyses were conducted. Moreover, within subgroups, multivariate Mendelian randomization analyses were utilized to investigate the autonomous causal connection between immune cell characteristics and IPF.

After adjusting for false discovery rate, it was discovered that 20 immunophenotypes exhibited a significant association with IPF. After subgrouping for multivariate Mendelian randomization analysis, there were six immunophenotypes that remained significantly associated with IPF. These included CD33 + HLA DR + CD14dim (OR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.93–0.99, P = 0.033), HLA DR + NK (OR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.85–0.98, P = 0.017), CD39 + CD8 + T cell %T cell (OR = 0.93, 95% CI 0.88–0.99, P = 0.024), CD3 on activated & secreting Treg (OR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.84–0.98, P = 0.026), PDL-1 on CD14- CD16 + monocyte (OR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.84–0.95, P = 8 × 10^–4), and CD45 on CD33 + HLA DR + CD14- (OR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.01–1.15, P = 0.011).

Our study reveals a noteworthy association between IPF and various immune cells, providing valuable insights for clinical research and aiding the advancement of immunologically-based therapeutic strategies.