Abstract
Observational studies have been conducted to investigate the correlation between adiponectin and diabetic retinopathy (DR), but no consistent relationship has been established. In this study, we employed an integrative analysis that combined Mendelian randomization (MR) and bioinformatics analyses to comprehensively explore the association between DR and adiponectin, aiming to provide a unified answer of their relationship. Using the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method, the odd ratio (OR) of developing DR per 1 mg/dL increment in genetically predicted log- transformed adiponectin concentration was estimated to be 0.949 (P = 0.557). Other robust MR methods produced consistent results, confirming the absence of a causal effect of adiponectin on DR. Additionally, the expression levels of the six adiponectin-related genes showed no significant differences among normal controls, individuals with diabetes but without DR, and those with DR Furthermore, the biological pathways enriched by these genes were not strongly relevant to DR. At both the individual gene and pathway levels, there were no overlaps between the adiponectin- related genes and the differentially expressed genes, indicating a lack of association between adiponectin and DR based on gene expression profiles. In summary, the integrative analysis, which combined MR and bioinformatics data mining, yielded compelling evidence supporting the notion that adiponectin is not a risk factor for DR.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2023
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1080/21623945.2023.2234522
Funding Information
This study was supported by Jilin Province Scientific and Technological Department (YDZJ202201ZYTS121) and the Interdisciplinary Integration and Innovation Project of Jilin University (JLUXKJC2021ZZ05), and The First Hospital of Jilin University (JDYY11202035 and 04027150002). The funding body had no roles in the design of the study and collection, analysis and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.
Repository Citation
Zhang, Ao; Wu, Hui; Wang, Chi; and Tian, Suyan, "Integrative analysis of Mendelian randomization and gene expression profiles reveals a null causal relationship between adiponectin and diabetic retinopathy" (2023). Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications. 351.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/markey_facpub/351
Notes/Citation Information
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.