遗传 ›› 2015, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (11): 1137-1142.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.15-267

• 研究报告 • 上一篇    下一篇

精子端粒长度与特发性男性不育相关

刘舒媛1,张昌军2,彭海英2,黄小琴1,孙浩1,林克勤1,黄铠1,褚嘉祐1,杨昭庆1   

  1. 1. 中国医学科学院/北京协和医学院 医学生物学研究所,昆明 650118;
    2. 湖北省十堰市人民医院生殖医学研究中心,十堰 442000
  • 收稿日期:2015-06-05 修回日期:2015-08-19 出版日期:2015-11-20 发布日期:2015-08-24
  • 通讯作者: 杨昭庆,博士,研究员,研究方向:疾病的遗传相关性。E-mail: zyang@imbcams.com.cn E-mail:liushuyuan@imbcams.com.cn
  • 作者简介:刘舒媛,博士,助理研究员,研究方向:疾病的遗传相关性。E-mail: liushuyuan@imbcams.com.cn
  • 基金资助:
    国家高新技术研究发展计划(863计划)项目(编号:2012AA021802)资助

Association study of telomere length with idiopathic male infertility

Shuyuan Liu1,Changjun Zhang2,Haiying Peng2,Xiaoqin Huang1,Hao Sun1,Keqin Lin1,Kai Huang1,Jiayou Chu1,Zhaoqing Yang1   

  1. 1. Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union of Medical college, Kunming 650118, China;
    2. Reproductive of Medical Research Centre of People’s Hospital of Shiyan, Shiyan 442000,China
  • Received:2015-06-05 Revised:2015-08-19 Online:2015-11-20 Published:2015-08-24

摘要: 端粒是真核生物染色体末端的多功能特异性DNA-蛋白结构,覆盖在染色体末端,保护基因组的稳定性。端粒在减数分裂过程中起到了十分重要的作用,协助染色体配对、联会、同源重组和分离。精子中的端粒可能在精子的受精能力和胚胎发育中起到重要作用。近年来,端粒与生殖的相关性研究成为一个新的热点,但精子端粒与男性不育间的相关性并不明确。本文采用实时荧光定量PCR方法检测中国特发性男性不育人群(126例)和正常可育男性人群(138例)的精子相对端粒长度,结果发现,特发性男性不育病例的精子平均相对端粒长度(2.894±0.115)低于正常对照组(4.016±0.603),差异具有统计学意义(P=5.097×10-5);并且精子相对端粒长度与精子密度、精子总数和精子活力都有显著的相关性:精子数量较多和/或精子活力较高,精子相对端粒长度较长。研究结果提示,在中国人群中,精子端粒长度与特发性男性不育具有相关性,精子的端粒长度可能影响精子发生和精子的功能,精子端粒的缩短导致精子数目及活力的降低从而导致男性不育。

关键词: 端粒长度, 特发性男性不育, 精子数目, 精子活力

Abstract: Telomeres are evolutionary conserved, multifunctional DNA-protein complexes located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomeres maintain chromosome stability and genome integrity and also play an important role in meiosis which aid in synapsis, homologous recombination, and segregation. Sperm telomere has been reported to play an important role in fertilization and embryo development. Nowadays, the association between telomere and reproduction is one of the major areas of interest, however whether sperm telomere associated with male infertility is not clear. In this study, in order to find out the association between Chinese idiopathic infertility and sperm telomere length, we analyzed the difference of sperm telomere length between idiopathic infertile men and normal fertile men, as well as the correlations between sperm telomere length and human semen characteristics. We analyzed 126 Chinese idiopathic infertile men and 138 normal fertile men for sperm telomere length by using quantitative PCR. We found that the relative sperm mean telomere length of infertile men was significantly shorter than that of fertile men (2.894±0.115 vs. 4.016±0.603, P=5.097×10-5). Both sperm count and semen progressive motility are related with telomere length. Our results suggest that sperm telomere length is associated with idiopathic male infertility of China and we proposed the possibility that shorter telomeres in sperm chromosome will reduce spermatogenesis and sperm functions, which finally affected the fertility of male.

Key words: telomere length, idiopathic male infertility, sperm count, sperm total motility