Exploring the potential causal connection between lung cancer and sepsis through two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis

Objective: Aims to systematically analyze the causal relationship between lung cancer and sepsis. Methods: A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was designed to investigate the association between lung cancer and sepsis. Inverse variance weighting (IVW) method was used for analysis, MR-PRESSO was used for outlier detection, and the robustness of the findings was confirmed by sensitivity analysis. Results: A total of 11 SNPs were included, indicating a causal connection between lung cancer and sepsis (P=0.00). Furthermore, In addition, the more severe the lung cancer, the increased risk of sepsis (OR=1.16, 95% CI: 1.06-1.27). However, reverse analysis did not reveal any reverse causality between the two conditions. Additionally, no horizontal pleiotropy was detected among the analyzed SNPs, and the selected instrumental variables demonstrated no heterogeneity. The chosen instrumental variables were verified to be both valid and reliable. Conclusion: A potential positive causal relationship exists between lung cancer and sepsis.