Genetic associations between circulating metabolic biomarkers and lung cancer in East Asians and Europeans

BACKGROUND: Metabolic biomarkers are reported to be associated with the risk of lung cancer (LC). However, the observed associations from epidemiological studies are either inconsistent or inconclusive. METHODS: The genetic summary data of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and those of the LC and its histological subtypes were retrieved from previous GWASs. We performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) and multivariable MR analyses to examine the associations between genetically predicted metabolic biomarkers and LC in East Asians and Europeans. RESULTS: In East Asians, the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method suggests that LDL (odds ratio [OR] = 0.799, 95% CI 0.712–0.897), TC (OR = 0.713, 95% CI 0.638–0.797), and TG (OR = 0.702, 95% CI 0.613–0.804) were significantly associated with LC after correction for multiple testing. For the remaining three biomarkers, we did not detect significant association with LC by any MR method. Multivariable MR (MVMR) analysis yielded an OR of 0.958 (95% CI 0.748–1.172) for HDL, 0.839 (95% CI 0.738–0.931) for LDL, 0.942 (95% CI 0.742–1.133) for TC, 1.161 (95% CI 1.070–1.252) for TG, 1.079 (95% CI 0.851–1.219) for FPG, and 1.101 (95% CI 0.922–1.191) for HbA1c. In Europeans, the univariate MR analyses did not detect significant association between exposures and outcomes. However, in MVMR analysis integrating circulating lipids and lifestyle risk factors (smoking, alcohol drinking, and body mass index), we found that TG was positively associated with LC in Europeans (OR = 1.660, 95% CI 1.060–2.260). Subgroup and sensitivity analysis yielded similar results to the main analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides genetic evidence that circulating levels of LDL was negatively associated with LC in East Asians, whereas TG was positively associated with LC in both populations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40001-023-01116-4.