Causal relationships of grey matter structures in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder: insights from Mendelian randomization

Abstract Multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder are two debilitating inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the CNS. Although grey matter alterations have been linked to both multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in observational studies, it is unclear whether these associations indicate causal relationships between these diseases and grey matter changes. Therefore, we conducted a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis to investigate the causal relationships between 202 grey matter imaging–derived phenotypes (33 224 individuals) and multiple sclerosis (47 429 cases and 68 374 controls) as well as neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (215 cases and 1244 controls). Our results suggested that genetically predicted multiple sclerosis was positively associated with the surface area of the left parahippocampal gyrus (β = 0.018, P = 2.383 × 10−4) and negatively associated with the volumes of the bilateral caudate (left: β = −0.020, P = 7.203 × 10−5; right: β = −0.021, P = 3.274 × 10−5) and putamen nuclei (left: β = −0.030, P = 2.175 × 10−8; right: β = −0.024, P = 1.047 × 10−5). In addition, increased neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder risk was associated with an increased surface area of the left paracentral gyrus (β = 0.023, P = 1.025 × 10−4). Conversely, no evidence was found for the causal impact of grey matter imaging–derived phenotypes on disease risk in the opposite direction. We provide suggestive evidence that genetically predicted multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder are associated with increased cortical surface area and decreased subcortical volume in specific regions. Our findings shed light on the associations of grey matter alterations with the risk of multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder. Liu et al., utilizing a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis, investigated the causal relationships between grey matter structures and the risk of multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder. Their findings provided novel insights into the complex interplay between grey matter alterations and the risk of these debilitating inflammatory demyelinating diseases. Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract