Abstract
Infertility is an important health problem that affects up to 16% of couples worldwide. Male infertility is responsible for about 50% of the cases, and the various causes of male infertility may be classified in pre-testicular (for example hypothalamic diseases), testicular, and post-testicular (for example obstructive pathologies of seminal ducts) causes. Sexually transmitted infections (STI) are increasingly widely accepted by researchers and clinicians as etiological factors of male infertility. In particular, several recent reports have documented the presence of HPV in seminal fluid and observed that sperm infection can also be present in sexually active asymptomatic male and infertile patients. In this review, we aimed to perform a systematic review of the whole body of literature exploring the impact of HPV infection in natural and assisted fertility outcomes, from both an experimental and a clinical point of view. Starting from in-vitro studies in animals up to in-vivo studies in humans, we aimed to study and evaluate the weight of this infection as a possible cause of idiopathic infertility in males with any known cause of conception failure.
Highlights
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the etiological agent of the most common sexually transmitted infection worldwide, with an estimated 6.2 million new cases annually [1]
Concerning the epidemiology of HPV infection, an evident difference occurs in the prevalence of the infection between females and males: while in the formers the prevalence is high in the first years after the sex debut and thereafter it decreases, in males the prevalence remains high during the whole life [8]
14 papers focused on the clinical impact of HPV detection in semen related to the alteration of sperm parameters [11, 14, 19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]; three papers focused on the correlation between HPV semen infection in males, development of anti-sperm antibodies and their impact on male fertility [22, 25, 27] and seven papers focused on the HPV semen infection in males and impairment of natural and assisted fertility outcomes [29, 31,32,33,34,35,36]
Summary
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the etiological agent of the most common sexually transmitted infection worldwide, with an estimated 6.2 million new cases annually [1]. It has been definitely demonstrated that, in addition to the well-known external genital areas, HPV virions may be detected inside the male reproductive tract It has been detected in male accessory glands were it can represent a possible cause of MAGI (male accessory gland infection), a condition which may play an important role in the impairment of seminal fluid and of fertility [9, 10]. They reported that HPV-L1 capsid protein is able to bind the glycosamino-glycan Syndecan-I on the sperm surface and located in the equatorial region of the head On this basis, different authors investigated the possible role of HPV semen infection in male infertility and recent metanalyses showed that this condition can impair couples fertility through different mechanisms [11, 14,15,16]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
