Mendelian randomization analysis reveals causal associations of serum metabolites with sepsis and 28-day mortality

Abstract

Metabolic disorder has been found to be an important factor in the pathogenesis and progression of sepsis. However, the causation of such an association between serum metabolites and sepsis has not been established. We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study. A genome-wide association study of 486 human serum metabolites was used as the exposure, whereas sepsis and sepsis mortality within 28 days were set as the outcomes. In MR analysis, 6 serum metabolites were identified to be associated with an increased risk of sepsis, and 6 serum metabolites were found to be related to a reduced risk of sepsis. Furthermore, there were 9 metabolites positively associated with sepsis-related mortality, and 8 metabolites were negatively correlated with sepsis mortality. In addition, “glycolysis/gluconeogenesis” (p = 0.001), and “pyruvate metabolism” (p = 0.042) two metabolic pathways were associated with the incidence of sepsis. This MR study suggested that serum metabolites played significant roles in the pathogenesis of sepsis, which may provide helpful biomarkers for early disease diagnosis, therapeutic interventions, and prognostic assessments for sepsis.