Association between skin microbiota and keratinocyte carcinomas: insight from mendelian randomization

Keratinocyte carcinomas (KCs), specifically cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC), have been associated with alterations in the skin microbiome. However, it remains unclear whether the alterations reflect carcinogenic or anticancer properties, or if they merely represent an ecological niche. Mendelian randomization (MR) is a robust approach to estimate causal effects between traits. Here, we conducted a two-sample MR and Meta-analysis to investigate the causal association between skin microbiota and KCs (cSCC and BCC) among European populations.