Causal Relationship Between Mitochondrial Function and Osteomyelitis: A Mendelian Randomization Study

Although accumulating research has indicated the link between mitochondrial function and osteomyelitis, the nature of this relationship has not yet been fully clarified, therefore, this present 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was designed to identify the causal link between mitochondrial function and osteomyelitis. In this study, inverse variance weighting (IVW), MR-Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode analyses were utilized to assess this causal relationship and possible targets for osteomyelitis treatment. On the basis of the IVW results, Lon protease homolog increased the risk of osteomyelitis by 14.08% (OR=1.1408, P =0.0061). Although ribosomal protein L34, hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase, and pyruvate carboxylase can reduce the incidence of osteomyelitis by 14.78% (OR=0.8522, P =0.0236), 13.01% (OR=0.8699, P =0.0170), and 11.38% (OR=0.8862, P =0.0478), respectively. This study indicates a causal association between mitochondrial function and osteomyelitis, and such insights may offer novel insights into exploring strategies for prevention or curing of osteomyelitis.