The Effect of Inflammatory Cytokines on the Risk of Hypertrophic Scar: A Mendelian Randomization Study

This study used Mendelian randomization to explore the causal relationship between inflammatory cytokines and hypertrophic scar (HS) formation, analyzing data from 766 patients and 207,482 controls. The results indicated that osteoprotegerin (OPG) and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) have a protective effect against HS, while CUB-domain-containing protein 1 (CDCP1), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), and programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) increase the risk of HS. These findings were consistent across various sensitivity analyses. The study suggests that these cytokines could be potential targets for HS prevention and treatment, though further validation is necessary.