Amer Medhat Kamel, Youssef Neveen Ahmed, GamalEl Din Sameh Fayek, Saied Nada Gamal, Ahmed Merna Ayman, Raef Ahmad, Ragab Ahmed
Department of Andrology, KasrAlainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Sexology, and STIs, Cairo, Egypt.
Adam International Hospital, Giza, Egypt.
Basic Clin Androl. 2024 Nov 5;34(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s12610-024-00234-1.
Sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) can significantly impact male fertility, especially in cases where there is a substantial level of DNA damage. We aimed in the current study to assess seminal plasma (SP) levels of vaspin and visfatin in infertile men with an elevated SDF index (SDFI ≥ 30%) compared to infertile males with a normal SDFI (SDFI < 30%).
Groups with good and medium DNA integrity exhibited significantly higher total motile sperm count and sperm motility in comparison to the group with poor DNA integrity. Significant negative correlations were noticed between SDF index (SDFI) and numerous semen parameters. Similarly, a significant negative correlation was observed between SDFI and SP vaspin. On the other hand, a significant positive correlation was found between SDFI and abnormal forms percentage. A statistically significant negative correlation was identified SP vaspin with age (r = -0.305, P = 0.006) and infertility duration (r = -0.263, P = 0.019). Statistically significant negative correlation was also identified between SP visfatin and abnormal forms percentage (r = -0.239, P = 0.034). The receiver operating characterisitic curve for predicting poor DNA integrity (SDFI ≥ 30%) revealed fair discriminative power for SP vaspin, with a cutoff value of < 0.55 ng/ml. It demonstrated a sensitivity of 58.8% and a specificity of 64.5% (area under the cureve (AUC) 0.685, p = 0.008). Meanwhile, SP visfatin had little discriminative power (AUC 0.562, p = 0.408). Finally, the results of a linear regression analysis indicated that sperm motility and SP vaspin were significant independent predictors of poor DNA integrity (SDFI ≥ 30%). The analysis was done with a 95% confidence interval and showed upper and lower bounds of -0.302 and -0.623, and -1.362 and -16.101, p < 0.001, p = 0.021, respectively.
SP Level of vaspin had shown promise as potential biomarkers for sperm DNA integrity. However, vaspin appeared to have greater specificity than visfatin in this point. Future studies are required to validate these findings, evaluate the role of SP vaspin in maintaining sperm DNA integrity, and investigate the potential relationship between SP adipocytokines and other clinical-demographic variables.
精子DNA碎片化（SDF）会显著影响男性生育能力，尤其是在DNA损伤程度较高的情况下。我们在本研究中的目的是评估精子DNA碎片化指数（SDFI）升高（SDFI≥30%）的不育男性与SDFI正常（SDFI<30%）的不育男性精浆（SP）中内脏脂肪素和内脂素的水平。
与DNA完整性差的组相比，DNA完整性良好和中等的组总活动精子数和精子活力显著更高。SDF指数（SDFI）与众多精液参数之间存在显著负相关。同样，SDFI与SP内脏脂肪素之间也观察到显著负相关。另一方面，SDFI与异常形态百分比之间存在显著正相关。SP内脏脂肪素与年龄（r=-0.305，P=0.006）和不育持续时间（r=-0.263，P=0.019）之间存在统计学显著负相关。SP内脂素与异常形态百分比之间也存在统计学显著负相关（r=-0.239，P=0.034）。预测DNA完整性差（SDFI≥30%）的受试者工作特征曲线显示，SP内脏脂肪素具有一定的判别能力，临界值<0.55 ng/ml。其敏感性为58.8%，特异性为64.5%（曲线下面积（AUC）0.685，p=0.008）。同时，SP内脂素的判别能力较弱（AUC 0.562，p=0.408）。最后，线性回归分析结果表明，精子活力和SP内脏脂肪素是DNA完整性差（SDFI≥30%）的显著独立预测因素。分析在95%置信区间下进行，分别显示上限和下限为-0.302和-0.623，以及-1.362和-16.101，p<0.001，p=0.021。
SP内脏脂肪素水平有望作为精子DNA完整性的潜在生物标志物。然而，在这一点上，内脏脂肪素似乎比内脂素具有更高的特异性。未来需要进行研究以验证这些发现，评估SP内脏脂肪素在维持精子DNA完整性中的作用，并研究SP脂肪细胞因子与其他临床人口统计学变量之间的潜在关系。
