Causal associations of immune cells with benign prostatic hyperplasia: insights from a Mendelian randomization study

Previous research has focused on the association between immune cells and the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Nevertheless, the causal relationships in this context remain uncertain.

This study employed a comprehensive and systematic two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to determine the causal relationships between immunophenotypes and BPH. We examined the causal associations between 731 immunophenotypes and the risk of BPH by utilizing publicly available genetic data. Integrated sensitivity analyses were performed to validate the robustness, assess heterogeneity, and examine horizontal pleiotropy in the results.

We discovered that 38 immunophenotypes have a causal effect on BPH. Subsequently, four of these immunophenotypes underwent verification using weighted median, weighted mode, and inverse variance weighted (IVW) algorithms, which included CD19 on CD24⁺ CD27⁺, CD19 on naive-mature B cell, HLA DR on CD14⁻ CD16⁺ and HLA DR⁺ T cell%lymphocyte. Furthermore, BPH exhibited a significant association with three immunophenotypes: CD19 on IgD⁺ CD38^dim (β = −0.152, 95% CI = 0.746–0.989, P = 0.034), CD19 on IgD⁺ (β = −0.167, 95% CI = 0.737–0.973, P = 0.019), and CD19 on naive-mature B cell (β = −0.166, 95% CI = 0.737–0.972, P = 0.018).

Our study provides valuable insights for future clinical investigations by establishing a significant association between immune cells and BPH.