Altered microRNA expression in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia.
BACKGROUND
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNA molecules, are indicated to play essential roles in spermatogenesis. However, little is known about the expression patterns or function of miRNAs in human testes involved in infertility.


METHODS
In this study, the miRNA expression profiles of testes of patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and normal controls were performed by using microarray technologies.


RESULTS
Altered microRNA expression in NOA patients was found, with 154 differentially down-regulated and 19 up-regulated miRNAs. These findings have been confirmed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays on select miRNAs, including miR-302a, miR-491-3p, miR-520d-3p and miR-383. Several down-regulated miRNA clusters in patients with NOA were identified, such as the oncogenic potential of the mir-17-92 cluster and mir-371,2,3 cluster.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report that the expression of miRNAs is altered in testicular tissues of patients with NOA, suggesting a role of miRNAs in regulating spermatogenesis in human males.
Lian
Jie
J
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, PR China. lianjie@mail.ustc.edu.cn
Zhang
Xiansheng
X
Tian
Hui
H
Liang
Ning
N
Wang
Yong
Y
Liang
Chaozhao
C
Li
Xin
X
Sun
Fei
F
D053713:Azoospermia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*
D035683:MicroRNAs