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Human Fertility
an international, multidisciplinary journal dedicated to furthering research and promoting good practice
Volume 21, 2018 - Issue 2
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Original Article

High frequency of de novo DAZ microdeletion in sperm nuclei of subfertile men: possible involvement of genome instability in idiopathic male infertility

, , , &
Pages 137-145 | Received 14 Jun 2016, Accepted 09 Dec 2016, Published online: 19 May 2017
 

Abstract

The occurrence and diagnosis of Y-chromosome microdeletions, specifically deletions of the DAZ (Deleted in Azoospermia) genes are an important issue in male infertility. Screening Y chromosome microdeletion is mainly done using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on blood leukocytes. However, there is some evidence indicating that presence of DAZ in somatic cells might not be indicative of its presence in the germ cell lineage. Therefore, a total of 130 men with poor semen quality were examined for presence of DAZ microdeletion in their leukocytes. From these, sperm from 40 randomly selected men with no DAZ microdeletions in their leukocytes (n = 10 oligozoospermia; n = 10 asthenozoospermia; n = 10 oligoasthenozoospermia; and n = 10 near-azoospermia) were were compared to sperm from men of normal semen quality (n = 10) using combined primed in situ labelling and fluorescent in situ hybridization (PRINS-FISH) technique as well as screening for sex chromosome aneuploidy. There was an increased frequency of DAZ microdeletion in blood samples from oligozoospermic (5%) (p < 0.05) and near azoospermic patients (14%) (p < 0.01). A high frequency of DAZ microdeletion was observed in the sperm of patients with no DAZ microdeletion in their leukocytes compared to control (p < 0.01). The frequency of sex chromosome aneuploidy also increased, correlating with the severity of infertility in the studied groups. A similar result was observed for sex chromosome aneuploidy. The results might be indicative of DAZ microdeletion induction during spermatogenesis.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of all participating individuals, especially patients and institutions in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) under grant number 91000869, Tehran, Iran.

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