Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) characterized by immune dysfunction is possibly more vulnerable to herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. The infection has been intensively considered a common onset and exacerbation of SLE. This study is aimed at elucidating the causal association between SLE and HSV. A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian Randomization (TSMR) analysis was systematically conducted to explore the causal effect of SLE and HSV on each other. The causality was estimated by inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger and weighted median methods based on the summary-level genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data from a publicly available database. Genetically proxied HSV infection exhibited no causal association with SLE in the forward MR analysis using IVW method (odds ratio [OR] = 0.987; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.891–1.093; p = 0.798), nor did HSV-1 IgG (OR = 1.241; 95% CI: 0.874–1.762; p = 0.227) and HSV-2 IgG (OR = 0.934; 95% CI: 0.821–1.062; p = 0.297). Similar null results with HSV infection (OR = 1.021; 95% CI: 0.986–1.057; p = 0.245), HSV-1 IgG (OR = 1.003; 95% CI: 0.982–1.024; p = 0.788) and HSV-2 IgG (OR = 1.034; 95% CI: 0.991–1.080; p = 0.121) were observed in the reverse MR where SLE served as the exposure. Our study demonstrated no causal association between the genetically predicted HSV and SLE.

中文翻译：

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孟德尔随机化分析表明单纯疱疹病毒感染与系统性红斑狼疮无关

以免疫功能障碍为特征的系统性红斑狼疮 (SLE) 可能更容易感染单纯疱疹病毒 (HSV)。感染被广泛认为是 SLE 的常见发病和恶化。本研究旨在阐明 SLE 和 HSV 之间的因果关系。系统地进行了双向双样本孟德尔随机化 (TSMR) 分析，以探讨 SLE 和 HSV 之间的因果关系。因果关系是根据来自公开数据库的汇总级全基因组关联研究 (GWAS) 数据，通过逆方差加权 (IVW)、MR-Egger 和加权中值方法估算的。在使用 IVW 方法的正向 MR 分析中，遗传代理的 HSV 感染与 SLE 没有因果关系（比值比 [OR] = 0.987；95% 置信区间 [CI]：0.891–1.093；p  = 0.798)，HSV-1 IgG（OR = 1.241；95% CI：0.874–1.762；p  = 0.227）和 HSV-2 IgG（OR = 0.934；95% CI：0.821–1.062；p  = 0.297） . HSV 感染（OR = 1.021；95% CI：0.986–1.057；p  = 0.245）、HSV-1 IgG（OR = 1.003；95% CI：0.982–1.024；p  = 0.788）和 HSV-2 IgG的类似无效结果（OR = 1.034；95% CI：0.991–1.080；p  = 0.121）在 SLE 暴露的反向 MR 中观察到。我们的研究表明遗传预测的 HSV 和 SLE 之间没有因果关系。