Seminal Plasma Transcriptome and Proteome: Towards a Molecular Approach in the Diagnosis of Idiopathic Male Infertility.

Rossella Cannarella,Andrea Crafa,Sandro La Vignera,Federica Barbagallo,Rosita A Condorelli,Aldo E Calogero

doi:10.3390/ijms21197308

Rossella Cannarella, Andrea Crafa + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21197308

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Abstract

As the “-omic” technology has largely developed, its application in the field of medical science seems a highly promising tool to clarify the etiology, at least in part, of the so-called idiopathic male infertility. The seminal plasma (SP) is made-up of secretions coming from the male accessory glands, namely epididymis, seminal vesicles, and prostate. It is not only a medium for sperm transport since it is able to modulate the female reproductive environment and immunity, to allow the acquisition of sperm competence, to influence the sperm RNA content, and even embryo development. The aim of this systematic review was to provide an updated and comprehensive description of the main transcripts and proteins reported by transcriptome and proteome studies performed in the human SP of patients with idiopathic infertility, in the attempt of identifying possible candidate molecular targets. We recurrently found that micro RNA (miR)-34, miR-122, and miR-509 are down-regulated in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and oligozoospermia compared with fertile controls. These molecules may represent interesting targets whose predictive role in testicular sperm extraction (TESE) or assisted reproductive techniques (ART) outcome deserves further investigation. Furthermore, according to the available proteomic studies, ECM1, TEX101, lectingalactoside-binding andsoluble 3 binding protein (LGALS3BP) have been reported as accurate predictors of TESE outcome. Interestingly, ECM1 is differently expressed in patients with different ART outcomes. Further prospective, ample-sized studies are needed to validate these molecular targets that will help in the counseling of patients with NOA or undergoing ART.

Highlights

Infertility has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the inability to achieve conception after 12–24 months of sexual unprotected intercourse (WHO, 1983)
Human seminal plasma (SP) miRNA may be used in patients with idiopathic male infertility to predict testicular sperm retrieval, or as markers of germ cell apoptosis in patients with spermatogenic failure
Three miRNAs are reported by more than two studies: miRNAs belonging to the micro RNA (miR)-34, miR-122, and miR-509 families (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Infertility has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the inability to achieve conception after 12–24 months of sexual unprotected intercourse (WHO, 1983). Spermatozoa may be incompetent to fertilize the oocyte despite normal conventional sperm parameters in a significant number of patients [3] This has encouraged scientists to search for the so-called “bio-functional” sperm parameters, such as sperm mitochondrial membrane potential, late or early apoptosis, degree of chromatin compactness, and sperm DNA fragmentation [4], which represent second level sperm parameters providing information on sperm function. Sperm DNA fragmentation is the most well-accepted parameter, and the available data confirm its impact on the pregnancy outcome [5,6,7] These parameters lack validation, and they are not all widely accepted and used, and, still the cause of male factor infertility remains unexplained in a not negligible percentage of cases [8]

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