Department of Urology, Kocaeli University School of Medicine, Kocaeli, Turkey.
Department of Medical Biology, Kocaeli University School of Medicine, Kocaeli, Turkey.
Andrologia. 2021 Aug;53(7):e14081. doi: 10.1111/and.14081. Epub 2021 May 19.
We aimed to identify proteins that were differentially regulated in spermatozoal samples collected from fertile healthy men (FHM) and infertile patients with varicocele (IFPV) before and after varicocelectomy. Seminal samples were collected from 20 IFPV before and after varicocelectomy and from 14 FHM as controls. Samples underwent seminal examination and proteomic analysis. Extracted spermatozoal proteins were analysed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and differentially regulated spermatozoal proteins (DRSPs) were identified. In particular, attention was placed on those DRSPs in which the concentration changed after varicocelectomy and corrected to approximate levels observed in FHM. Varicocelectomy significantly improved the sperm count and concentration in IFPV (p < 0.05). Proteomic analysis showed that 11 DRSPs were identified when comparisons were made among the three groups. Among these 11 proteins, change in the SERPIN A5 concentrations was notable because it was 100-fold downregulated in pre-operative IFPV samples and nearly resembled to control concentrations following varicocelectomy. Western blot analysis using an anti-SERPIN antibody validated the changes observed in SERPIN A5 levels before and after varicocelectomy operation. Increase in SERPIN A5 after varicocelectomy may be due to improvement in semen quality, suggesting that SERPIN A5 is a potential seminal biomarker for assessment of semen quality in varicocele-related infertility.
我们旨在鉴定精子样本中差异调节蛋白，这些精子样本来自生育健康男性（FHM）和精索静脉曲张（IFPV）不育患者手术前后。收集 20 例 IFPV 手术前后和 14 例 FHM 作为对照的精液样本。样本进行精液检查和蛋白质组学分析。使用二维凝胶电泳分析提取的精子蛋白，鉴定差异调节的精子蛋白（DRSPs）。特别关注那些在精索静脉曲张手术后浓度发生变化并校正至接近 FHM 观察到的水平的 DRSPs。精索静脉曲张手术后显著改善了 IFPV 的精子计数和浓度（p<0.05）。蛋白质组学分析表明，当比较三组时，鉴定出 11 个 DRSPs。在这 11 种蛋白质中，SERPIN A5 浓度的变化引人注目，因为其在术前 IFPV 样本中下调了 100 倍，且在精索静脉曲张手术后几乎与对照浓度相似。使用抗 SERPIN 抗体的 Western blot 分析验证了精索静脉曲张手术后 SERPIN A5 水平的变化。精索静脉曲张手术后 SERPIN A5 的增加可能是由于精液质量的改善，表明 SERPIN A5 是评估精索静脉曲张相关性不育症精液质量的潜在精液生物标志物。
