ArticleObesity (Silver Spring, Md.)2021
The Role of Inflammatory Cytokines as Intermediates in the Pathway from Increased Adiposity to Disease.
Article in Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Large-scale multi-trait genome-wide analysis for inflammatory bowel disease reveals new insights into its molecular mechanisms and emphasizes the roles of systemic immune regulation.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2025Pooled it
- Circulating cytokines levels and the risk of polycystic ovary syndrome: A Mendelian randomization analysis.Medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Inflammatory cytokines and oral lichen planus: a Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Pooled it
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- Article
- Causal relationships between 41 inflammatory cytokines and myopia: a Mendelian randomization study.International journal of ophthalmology · 2026Article
- Investigating the contribution of circulating inflammatory cytokines on the link between obesity and COVID-19.Adipocyte · 2025Article
- COVID-19, inflammatory cytokines, and digestive system cancers: a bidirectional Mendelian study and mediation analysis.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Associations of leucocyte subtypes and platelet parameters with kidney cancer risk in the UK Biobank cohort.Journal of inflammation (London, England) · 2025Article
- Coronary Atherosclerosis and Subclinical Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: A Robust Association Beyond Intracranial Atherosclerosis and Cardiac Systolic Function.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Article
- Identifying Targets and Drugs for Rheumatoid Arthritis Stratified Therapy Using Mendelian Randomization and a Pretraining Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- MRdb: a comprehensive database of univariate and multivariate Mendelian randomization with large-scale GWAS summary data.Database : the journal of biological databases and curation · 2025Article
- Genetic insight into dissecting the immunophenotypes and inflammatory profiles in the pathogenesis of Sjogren syndrome.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Immune Cells Mediate the Causal Pathway Linking Multisite Chronic Pain to Asthma: A Mediation Mendelian Randomization Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- The Role of Chemokines in Obesity and Exercise-Induced Weight Loss.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Temporal changes in brain morphology related to inflammation and schizophrenia: an omnigenic Mendelian randomization study.Psychological medicine · 2024Article
- Genetic insight into putative causes of xanthelasma palpebrarum: a Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Effect of the gut microbiome, plasma metabolome, peripheral cells, and inflammatory cytokines on obesity: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study and mediation analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- A Mendelian randomization study on the causal effects of circulating cytokines on the risk of vitiligo.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Causal relationship of interferon-γ and interleukin-18 upstream of intervertebral disc degeneration pathogenesis: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
23 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis study aimed to investigate the role of cytokines as intermediates in the pathway from increased adiposity to disease.
methodsBMI and circulating levels of up to 41 cytokines were measured in individuals from three Finnish cohort studies (n = 8,293). Mendelian randomization (MR) was used to assess the impact of BMI on circulating cytokines and the impact of BMI-driven cytokines on risk of obesity-related diseases.
resultsObservationally, BMI was associated with 19 cytokines. For every SD increase in BMI, causal effect estimates were strongest for hepatocyte growth factor, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and were as ratios of geometric means 1.13 (95% CI: 1.08-1.19), 1.08 (95% CI: 1.04-1.14), and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.04-1.21), respectively. TRAIL was associated with a small increase in the odds of coronary artery disease (odds ratio: 1.03; 95% CI: 1.00-1.06). There was inconsistent evidence for a protective role of MCP-1 against inflammatory bowel diseases.
conclusionsObservational and MR estimates of the effect of BMI on cytokine levels were generally concordant. There was little evidence for an effect of raised levels of BMI-driven cytokines on disease. These findings illustrate the challenges of MR when applied in the context of molecular mediation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.