Selection of instrumental variables of lung cancer
We at first selected 15 IVs for lung cancer, 14 IVs for LUAD and 7 IVs for LUSC, respectively. Then, 5 IVs for lung cancer, 5 IVs for LUAD and 3 IVs for LUSC were removed after searching in the PhenoScanncer database due to confounding variables. Ultimately, we identified 10 IVs for lung cancer, 9 IVs for LUAD and 4 IVs for LUSC. All the F-statistics of these IVs ranged from 34.63 to 91.77, showing the absence of weak IVs (Additional file 1: Table S1).
MR analysis of lung cancer to bladder cancer
In overall lung cancer to bladder cancer MR analysis, we discovered that lung cancer was an elevated risk of bladder cancer (IVW: OR=1.88, 95%CI 1.29 - 2.75, P= 0.001; weighted median: OR= 1.68, 95%CI 1.08 - 2.59, P= 0.020). The similar causal estimates were obtained from MR-Egger (OR= 2.32, 95%CI 0.91 - 5.89, P= 0.114), although the association was not statistically significant. In LUAD to bladder cancer MR analysis, no association was identified between LUAD and bladder cancer (IVW: OR=0.92, 95%CI 0.68 - 1.26, P= 0.612; MR-Egger: OR= 0.66, 95%CI 0.13 - 3.37, P= 0.629; weighted median: OR= 1.13, 95%CI 0.79 - 1.63, P= 0.495). Similarly, no association was identified between LUSC and bladder cancer in LUSC to bladder MR analysis (IVW: OR=1.34, 95%CI 0.78 – 2.30, P= 0.281; MR-Egger: OR= 0.99, 95%CI 0.23 – 4.31, P= 0.994; weighted median: OR= 1.11, 95%CI 0.75 - 1.66, P= 0.596) (Fig.2).
Selection of instrumental variables of bladder cancer
In bladder cancer to lung cancer MR analysis, 13 SNPs were selected as IVs. One IV associated with confounding variable was removed using PhenoScanncer database. Another IV was removed because of palindromic structure. Ultimately, we identified 11 IVs for bladder cancer. After matching with the GWAS of lung cancer and its subgroups, 8 IVs remained. All the F-statistics of these IVs ranged from 20.93 to 30.18 (Additional file 1: Table S2).
MR analysis of bladder cancer to lung cancer
In bladder cancer to overall lung cancer MR analysis, we didn’t discover any association with lung cancer (IVW: OR=1.03, 95%CI 0.99 - 1.07, P=0.146; MR-Egger: OR=1.05, 95%CI 0.97 - 1.14, P=0.230; weight median: OR=1.04, 95%CI 0.99 - 1.09, P=0.133). In bladder cancer to LUAD MR analysis, we also didn’t identify causal association between bladder cancer and LUAD (IVW: OR=1.03, 95%CI 0.98 - 1.09, P=0.231; MR-Egger: OR=1.11, 95%CI 1.00 - 1.23, P=0.101; weight median: OR=1.07, 95%CI 0.98 - 1.13, P=0.126). In bladder cancer to LUSC MR analysis, we found that bladder cancer increased the risk of LUSC (IVW: OR=1.09, 95%CI 1.02 - 1.16, P=0.008; MR-Egger: OR=1.18, 95%CI 1.04 - 1.33, P=0.042). Although the association was not statistically significant in the weight median method, the similar estimate was obtained (OR=1.08, 95%CI 0.99 - 1.23, P=1.18) (Fig.3).
Sensitivity Analyses
We performed sensitivity analysis to reliable to our results. The result of Cochran's Q-Statistics indicated that there was heterogeneity between LUSC and bladder cancer in lung cancer to bladder cancer MR analysis (P=0.025). Despite of the heterogeneity detected, the random effect of the IVW remained valid. There was no heterogeneity in any other MR analysis (Table 1).
The results of MR-Egger regression revealed no horizontal pleiotropy in any MR analysis. Additionally, the MR-PRESSO also didn’t identify any outlier and pleiotropy (Table 1). The results of leave-one-out indicated the estimates were not biased by a single SNP (Additional file 2: Fig. S1). Furthermore, scatter plots, forest plots and funnel plots are shown in Supplementary Materials (Additional file 2: Figs. S2-S4).
Table 1 Evaluation of heterogeneity and directional pleiotropy
Exposure-Outcome
|
Heterogeneity
|
Horizontal pleiotropy
|
MR-PRESSO
|
Cochran’s Q
|
P-value
|
Egger intercept
|
P-value
|
P-value
|
LC-BC
|
15.016
|
0.090
|
-0.027
|
0.639
|
0.110
|
LUAD-BC
|
10.717
|
0.218
|
0.045
|
0.689
|
0.231
|
LUSC-BC
|
9.336
|
0.025
|
0.063
|
0.698
|
0.076
|
BC-LC
|
4.691
|
0.698
|
-0.008
|
0.522
|
0.769
|
BC-LUAD
|
4.744
|
0.691
|
-0.025
|
0.175
|
0.768
|
BC-LUSC
|
7.108
|
0.418
|
-0.027
|
0.213
|
0.346
|
MR-PRESSO: Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier; LC: lung cancer; BC: bladder cancer; LUAD: lung adenocarcinoma; LUSC: lung squamous cancer