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Genetic evidence for the causal effects of C-reactive protein on self-reported habitual sleep duration

Iakunchykova, Olena ; Pan, Mengyu LU orcid ; Amlien, Inge K ; Roe, James M ; Walhovd, Kristine B ; Fjell, Anders M ; Chen, Chi-Hua ; Benros, Michael E and Wang, Yunpeng (2024) In Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health 37.
Abstract

Inflammatory responses to acute stimuli are proposed to regulate sleep, but the relationship between chronic inflammation and habitual sleep duration is elusive. Here, we study this relation using genetically predicted level of chronic inflammation, indexed by CRP and IL6 signaling, and self-reported sleep duration. By Mendelian randomization analysis, we show that elevated CRP level within <10 mg/L has a homeostatic effect that facilitates maintaining 7-8 h sleep duration per day - making short-sleepers sleep longer (p = 2.42 × 10-2) and long-sleepers sleep shorter (1.87 × 10-7); but it is not associated with the overall sleep duration (p = 0.17). This homeostatic effect replicated in an independent CRP dataset. We observed causal... (More)

Inflammatory responses to acute stimuli are proposed to regulate sleep, but the relationship between chronic inflammation and habitual sleep duration is elusive. Here, we study this relation using genetically predicted level of chronic inflammation, indexed by CRP and IL6 signaling, and self-reported sleep duration. By Mendelian randomization analysis, we show that elevated CRP level within <10 mg/L has a homeostatic effect that facilitates maintaining 7-8 h sleep duration per day - making short-sleepers sleep longer (p = 2.42 × 10-2) and long-sleepers sleep shorter (1.87 × 10-7); but it is not associated with the overall sleep duration (p = 0.17). This homeostatic effect replicated in an independent CRP dataset. We observed causal effects of the soluble interleukin 6 receptor and gp130 on overall sleep duration (p = 1.62 × 10-8, p = 2.61 × 10-58, respectively), but these effects disappeared when CRP effects were accounted for in the model. Using polygenic score analysis, we found that the homeostatic effect of CRP on sleep duration stems primarily from the genetic variants within the CRP gene region: when genetic variants outside of this region were used to predict CRP levels, the opposite direction of effect was observed. In conclusion, we show that elevated CRP level may causally facilitate maintaining an optimal sleep duration that is beneficial to health, thus updating our current knowledge of immune regulation on sleep.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health
volume
37
article number
100754
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:38511149
  • scopus:85187951551
ISSN
2666-3546
DOI
10.1016/j.bbih.2024.100754
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
© 2024 The Authors.
id
90075ffb-1e54-495a-a0be-1968e84c36d1
date added to LUP
2026-03-11 08:24:54
date last changed
2026-09-26 07:37:35
@article{90075ffb-1e54-495a-a0be-1968e84c36d1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Inflammatory responses to acute stimuli are proposed to regulate sleep, but the relationship between chronic inflammation and habitual sleep duration is elusive. Here, we study this relation using genetically predicted level of chronic inflammation, indexed by CRP and IL6 signaling, and self-reported sleep duration. By Mendelian randomization analysis, we show that elevated CRP level within &lt;10 mg/L has a homeostatic effect that facilitates maintaining 7-8 h sleep duration per day - making short-sleepers sleep longer (p = 2.42 × 10-2) and long-sleepers sleep shorter (1.87 × 10-7); but it is not associated with the overall sleep duration (p = 0.17). This homeostatic effect replicated in an independent CRP dataset. We observed causal effects of the soluble interleukin 6 receptor and gp130 on overall sleep duration (p = 1.62 × 10-8, p = 2.61 × 10-58, respectively), but these effects disappeared when CRP effects were accounted for in the model. Using polygenic score analysis, we found that the homeostatic effect of CRP on sleep duration stems primarily from the genetic variants within the CRP gene region: when genetic variants outside of this region were used to predict CRP levels, the opposite direction of effect was observed. In conclusion, we show that elevated CRP level may causally facilitate maintaining an optimal sleep duration that is beneficial to health, thus updating our current knowledge of immune regulation on sleep.</p>}},
  author       = {{Iakunchykova, Olena and Pan, Mengyu and Amlien, Inge K and Roe, James M and Walhovd, Kristine B and Fjell, Anders M and Chen, Chi-Hua and Benros, Michael E and Wang, Yunpeng}},
  issn         = {{2666-3546}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health}},
  title        = {{Genetic evidence for the causal effects of C-reactive protein on self-reported habitual sleep duration}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2024.100754}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.bbih.2024.100754}},
  volume       = {{37}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}