Associations Between Circulating Inflammatory Cytokines and Neuropathic Pain: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

• DOI: 10.2147/jpr.s495896
• Publication Date: 2025-03-24T06:50:12Z
• Authors: Yihan Zheng; Hongmei Wang; Huale Zhang; Xizhu Wu; Min Zhou; Wang Denggui
• Keywords: Mendelian Randomization

Several recent observational studies have reported that the circulating inflammatory cytokine composition is associated with neuropathic pain. However, causal effect of 41 cytokines on pain unknown. A two-sample Mendelian randomization study was performed using summary statistics for a genome-wide association (GWAS) conducted within three Finnish cohorts (YFS and FINRISK 1997 2002, n=8,293). The were obtained from GWAS dataset (800 patients 195,047 controls). Inverse variance weighting, weighted median MR‒Egger regression, simple weighting used to examine associations between Sensitivity analyses, including Cochran Q test, Egger intercept leave-one-out analysis, verify robustness MR results. estimates suggested G-CSF (OR=0.57, 95% CI=0.39-0.83, P=3.4e-03), IL-16 (OR=0.73, CI=0.55-0.96, P=2.7e-02), IL-1β CI=0.33-0.99, P=4.4e-02) had protective effects In addition, IP-10 (OR=1.36, CI=1.06-1.74, P=1.5e-02) be No significant heterogeneity instrumental variables or horizontal pleiotropy found. This revealed G-CSF, IL-16, IL-1β, causally knowledge could guide future research in developing more effective treatments pain, potentially leading better management options patients.