Molecular Characterization of Some Genetic Factors Controlling Spermatogenesis in Egyptian Patients with Male Infertility

Abstract

ABSTRACTMen with severe infertility suffer a high risk of Y chromosome deletion, hence screening for these cases is recommended prior to treatment with assisted reproduction. Our study aimed to investigate and detect the azoospermia factor (AZF) region deletion, rearrangement and deleted azoospermia (DAZ) gene copy number variations in Egyptian azoospermic infertile men. This was tested on 54 Egyptian nonobstructive azoospermic (NOA) infertile men, with age ranged from 21 to 45 years (mean: 31.4 ± 6.1 years), by STS ± multiplex PCR using a set of 14 sequence tagged sites (STSs) from three different regions of the Y chromosome: AZFa, AZFb, AZFc and sY587/DraI PCRRFLP assay to determine DAZ copy number variations. The results revealed a significant prevalence of AZFc subtypes deletion and reduced DAZ gene dosage in Egyptian azoospermic cases affecting Y chromosome deletions. To our knowledge, this study is the first one to investigate AZFc subtypes deletion and DAZ gene dosage in Egyptian infertile men. We concluded that DAZ genes deletion is a risk factor for spermatogenic damage.How to cite this articleFayez AG, El-Sayed AS, El-Desouky MA, Zarouk WA, Kamel AK, Fahmi IM, El-Ruby MO. Molecular Characterization of Some Genetic Factors Controlling Spermatogenesis in Egyptian Patients with Male Infertility. Int J Infertility Fetal Med 2012;3(3):69-77.