title: Quantification of the expression level of the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of telomerase in testicular tissue specimens predicts successful sperm recovery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objective of the present study was to evaluate the quantitative detection of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA as a new molecular diagnostic parameter in the work-up of testicular tissue specimens from patients presenting with non-obstructive azoospermia. M ETHODS: hTERT mRNA expression was quantified in 49 cryopreserved testicular tissue specimens by fluorescence real-time RT-PCR in a LightCycler. This was paralleled by conventional histological work-up in all tissue specimens and additional semithin sectioning preparation in cases with maturation arrest (n = 20) and Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS; n = 12).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average normalized hTERT expression (N(hTERT)) was 136.1 +/- 41.7 copies (mean +/- standard deviation) in tissue specimens with presence of haploid germs cells, N(hTERT) = 48.2 +/- 21.0 copies in those with maturation arrest and N(hTERT) = 2.7 +/- 2.8 copies in those with SCOS. The discriminant analysis showed that detection of N(hTERT) was able correctly to classify 89.0% of the investigated tissue specimens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate that quantitative detection of hTERT mRNA expression in testicular tissue enables a molecular-diagnostic subclassification of spermatogenesis disorders. Quantitative detection of hTERT in testicular biopsies is thus well suited for predicting successful sperm recovery in patients with azoospermia and is a useful molecular diagnostic parameter for supplementing the histopathological evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Universitätsklinikum Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität Berlin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200 Berlin, Germany. schrader@medizin.fu-berlin.de
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schrader
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schulze
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heicappell
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Straub
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D015925:Cryopreservation; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000473:pathology; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013093:Spermatogonia / Q000473:pathology; D013577:Syndrome; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics*; D013737:Testis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019098:Telomerase