What question did this study set out to answer?

To profile microRNA (miRNA) expression in the seminal plasma of men with nonobstructive azoospermia across histopathologic subtypes and evaluate their potential as noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers.

February 16, 2021Fertility and SterilityOpen Access

MicroRNA expression profiles in the seminal plasma of nonobstructive azoospermia patients with different histopathologic patterns

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Authors

WZWei ZhangCentral South University YZYaonan ZhangChinese Academy of Sciences MZMing‐Jia ZhaoTangshan People's Hospital

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Implication

Case-control study reveals altered seminal plasma microRNA signatures in nonobstructive azoospermia, highlighting hsa-miR-34c-5p as a noninvasive diagnostic biomarker.

Key Points

To profile microRNA (miRNA) expression in the seminal plasma of men with nonobstructive azoospermia across histopathologic subtypes and evaluate their potential as noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers.
High-throughput small RNA sequencing was performed on seminal plasma from 13 patients with nonobstructive azoospermia (7 with Sertoli cell–only syndrome [SCOS] and 6 with hypospermatogenesis/spermatogenesis arrest [SA]) and 7 fertile controls.
Differentially expressed miRNAs were validated via qRT-PCR in an initial cohort (n=6 per group) and an expanded cohort of 54 patients with nonobstructive azoospermia (27 SCOS, 27 SA) alongside 19 fertile controls.
Bioinformatic Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis evaluated target pathways of candidate miRNAs.
Sequencing identified 78 upregulated and 132 downregulated miRNAs in SCOS, as well as 32 upregulated and 90 downregulated miRNAs in SA relative to fertile controls.
Seminal plasma hsa-miR-34c-5p was significantly downregulated in nonobstructive azoospermia, distinguishing controls from SA (AUC 0.979) and SCOS (AUC 0.987), and differentiating SA from SCOS (AUC 0.799).
KEGG analysis identified the Notch signaling pathway as significantly enriched, with its downstream effector Hes5 showing significantly higher seminal plasma expression in patients with nonobstructive azoospermia compared with fertile controls.

Cite This Study

Zhang et al. (2021) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a70351b2163a0a01bc46cea https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2020.11.020

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Implication

Case-control study reveals altered seminal plasma microRNA signatures in nonobstructive azoospermia, highlighting hsa-miR-34c-5p as a noninvasive diagnostic biomarker.

MicroRNA expression profiles in the seminal plasma of nonobstructive azoospermia patients with different histopathologic patterns

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

MicroRNA expression profiles in the seminal plasma of nonobstructive azoospermia patients with different histopathologic patterns

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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