Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 3 — Observational / field trialPeer-reviewed

Phenome-wide Mendelian randomization mapping the influence of the plasma proteome on complex diseases

Jie Zheng, Valeriia Haberland, Denis Baird, Venexia Walker, Philip Haycock, Mark R. Hurle, Alex Gutteridge, Pau Erola, Yi Liu, Shan Luo, Jamie Robinson, Tom G. Richardson, James R Staley, Benjamin Elsworth, Stephen Burgess, Benjamin B. Sun, John Danesh, Heiko Runz, Joseph Maranville, Hannah M. Martin, James Yarmolinsky, Charles Laurin, Michael V. Holmes, Jimmy Z. Liu, Karol Estrada, Rita Santos, Linda McCarthy, Dawn Waterworth, Matthew R. Nelson, George Davey Smith, Adam S. Butterworth, Gibran Hemani, Robert A. Scott, Tom R. Gaunt

Nature Genetics · 2020

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Summary

This phenome-wide Mendelian randomisation study leveraged genetic variation in plasma proteins as natural experiments to investigate causal relationships between circulating proteome composition and risk of complex diseases. The authors analysed a large sample to map protein-disease associations across multiple outcomes, as suggested by the title and journal venue. Findings may support identification of novel therapeutic targets or biomarkers for disease prevention.

UK applicability

Results are based on predominantly European-ancestry genetic data and may be applicable to UK populations with similar ancestry composition. Identified protein biomarkers could inform UK nutritional epidemiology, public health surveillance, and clinical trial design.

Key measures

Genetic instrumental variables for plasma proteins; disease risk associations; causal inference estimates

Outcomes reported

The study used Mendelian randomisation to investigate causal associations between circulating proteins and risk of complex diseases across a phenome-wide scan. It identified protein biomarkers with putative causal effects on multiple disease outcomes.

Theme
Nutrition & health
Subject
Dietary patterns & chronic disease
Study type
Research
Study design
Mendelian randomisation analysis
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
International
System type
Human clinical
DOI
10.1038/s41588-020-0682-6
Catalogue ID
BFmou2mfu8-fb0f4s

Topic tags

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