Department of Reproductive Endocrinology, Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Department of Reproductive Endocrinology, Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Key Laboratory of Reproductive Genetics, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, China.
Reprod Toxicol. 2020 Jun;94:8-12. doi: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2020.03.007. Epub 2020 Apr 4.
Sperm DNA fragmentation index (SDF), as an important supplement to routine semen parameters, has been proposed to discriminate between fertile and infertile men, and predicts the outcomes of natural conception and in vitro fertilization. Unfortunately there are uncertainty and contradictory evidences regarding the importance of SDF. An important reason is the fact that significant and fundamental research about SDF is rare. This study was designed to characterize the microRNA (miRNA) expression profile in seminal plasma of normospermic patients with different SDF and their implications in human fertility. Using next-generation sequencing (NGS), a total of 897 human miRNAs were detected from 10 seminal plasma samples, out of which 431 differentially expressed miRNAs in 5 pairs of seminal plasma samples (each pair of seminal plasma samples obtained from the same male), with 14 miRNAs were identified in all the pairs. According to the fold change and expression level, 7 miRNAs including miR-374b-5p, miR-429, hsa-miR-26b-5p, miR-21-5p, miR-4257, miR-135b-5p and miR-134-5p were selected for further excavation. MiR-374b-5p and miR-26b-5p were significantly different in 3 sets of individual seminal plasma samples with different SDF from total 90 infertile patients (30 patients each set). Our results demonstrate that the profile of miR-374b and miR-26b with significantly decreased expression could be used as a first indication of increased SDF. And miR-374b and miR-26b could serve as adjunct biomarkers for the diagnosis of idiopathic infertile males.
精子 DNA 碎片化指数（SDF）作为常规精液参数的重要补充，已被提出用于区分生育能力正常和生育能力低下的男性，并预测自然受孕和体外受精的结果。不幸的是，关于 SDF 的重要性存在不确定性和相互矛盾的证据。一个重要的原因是，关于 SDF 的重要基础研究非常少。本研究旨在分析不同 SDF 正常精子患者精浆中 microRNA（miRNA）表达谱及其对人类生育能力的影响。使用下一代测序（NGS）技术，从 10 份精浆样本中总共检测到 897 个人类 miRNA，其中 5 对精浆样本（每对精浆样本均来自同一名男性）中有 431 个差异表达 miRNA，14 个 miRNA 在所有对中均有发现。根据倍数变化和表达水平，选择了 7 个 miRNA 进一步挖掘，包括 miR-374b-5p、miR-429、hsa-miR-26b-5p、miR-21-5p、miR-4257、miR-135b-5p 和 miR-134-5p。miR-374b-5p 和 miR-26b-5p 在来自 90 名不同 SDF 不育患者的 3 组个体精浆样本中差异显著（每组 30 名患者）。我们的结果表明，SDF 升高时，miR-374b 和 miR-26b 的表达明显降低，可以作为 SDF 升高的初步指标。miR-374b 和 miR-26b 可以作为特发性不育男性诊断的辅助生物标志物。
