Identification of proteomic differences in asthenozoospermic sperm samples.
BACKGROUND
Asthenozoospermia is one of the most common findings present in infertile males, but its aetiology remains unknown in most cases. Present proteomic tools now offer the opportunity to identify proteins which are differentially expressed in asthenozoospermic semen samples and potentially involved in infertility.


METHODS
We compared the expression of 101 sperm protein spots in 20 asthenozoospermic samples to that of 10 semen donor controls using two-dimensional proteomic analysis.


RESULTS
Seventeen protein spots have been identified at different amounts in the asthenozoospermic samples compared with controls. These are cytoskeletal actin-B, annexin-A5, cytochrome C oxidase-6B, histone H2A, prolactin-inducible protein and precursor, calcium binding protein-S100A9 (2 spots), clusterin precursor, dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase precursor, fumarate hydratase precursor, heat shock protein-HSPA2, inositol-1 monophosphatase, 3-mercapto-pyruvate sulfurtransferase/dienoyl-CoA isomerase precursor, proteasome subunit-PSMB3, semenogelin 1 precursor and testis expressed sequence 12. The detected amount of these proteins enabled the grouping of asthenozoospermic sperm samples in an unsupervised clustering analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
We have identified several proteins present at different amount in asthenozoospermic sperm samples. These proteins could be candidates towards the development of diagnostic markers, and open up the opportunity to gain further insight into the pathogenic mechanisms involved in asthenozoospermia.
Martínez-Heredia
Juan
J
Human Genetics Research Group, Genetics Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Casanova 143, 08036 Barcelona, Spain.
de Mateo
Sara
S
Vidal-Taboada
José M
JM
Ballescà
José Luis
JL
Oliva
Rafael
R
D000328:Adult; D053627:Asthenozoospermia / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male; D008297:Male; D020543:Proteome / Q000378:metabolism*; D040901:Proteomics; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism*
D015415:Biomarkers; D020543:Proteome