ORIGINAL ARTICLE: The Role of IL‐6, IL‐10, TNF‐α and its Receptors TNFR1 and TNFR2 in the Local Regulatory System of Normal and Impaired Human Spermatogenesis

PROBLEM: To investigate the expression of genes coding for selected cytokines with antagonistic functions (IL-6, IL-10, TNF-alpha) as well as TNF-alpha receptors (TNFR1 and TNFR2) in correct spermatogenesis (normal proliferation), maturation arrest (proliferation inhibited) and testicular tumors (overgrowth). METHOD OF STUDY: Transcription levels of genes coding for IL-6, IL-10, TNF-alpha, TNFR1 and TNFR2 were quantitatively examined using a real-time RT-PCR. RESULTS: Significantly higher amounts of IL-6 mRNA were observed in testicular tumor samples than in normal spermatogenesis or in some syndromes with maturation arrest (MA at spermatid level or SCOS), while IL-10 gene levels were fairly stable. In homogenates with maturation arrest, the expression of TNFR1 gene was markedly higher than in testicular tumors, while the opposite phenomenon was found in respect to TNFR2 gene. CONCLUSION: The results obtained indicate that changes in activities of intra-testicular cytokines may promote different distinct pathologies such as testicular cancer or infertility.