title: Human herpesvirus-6A/B binds to spermatozoa acrosome and is the most prevalent herpesvirus in semen from sperm donors.
abstract: An analysis of all known human herpesviruses has not previously been reported on sperm from normal donors. Using an array-based detection method, we determined the cross-sectional frequency of human herpesviruses in semen from 198 Danish sperm donors. Fifty-five of the donors had at least one ejaculate that was positive for one or more human herpesvirus. Of these 27.3% (n = 15) had a double herpesvirus infection. If corrected for the presence of multiple ejaculates from some donors, the adjusted frequency of herpesviruses in semen was 27.2% with HSV-1 in 0.4%; HSV-2 in 0.1%; EBV in 6.3%; HCMV in 2.7%; HHV-6A/B in 13.5%; HHV-7 in 4.2%, whereas none of the samples had detectable VZV or HHV-8. Subsequently, we examined longitudinally data on ejaculates from 11 herpesvirus-positive donors. Serial analyses revealed that a donor who tested positive for herpesvirus at one time point did not necessarily remain positive over time. For the most frequently found herpesvirus, HHV-6A/B, we examined its association with sperm. For HHV-6A/B PCR-positive semen samples, HHV-6A/B could be detected on the sperm by flow cytometry. Conversely, PCR-negative semen samples were negative by flow cytometry. HHV-6B was shown to associate with sperm within minutes in a concentration dependent manner. Confocal microscopy demonstrated that HHV-6B associated with the sperm head, but only to sperm with an intact acrosome. Taken together, our data suggest that HHV-6A/B could be transported to the uterus via binding to the sperm acrosome. Moreover, we find a 10 times higher frequency of HHV-7 in semen from healthy individuals than previously detected. Further research is required to determine the potential risk of using herpesvirus-positive donor semen. Longitudinally analyses of ejaculate series indicate that implementation of quarantine for a donor shown to shed a herpesvirus is not a tenable solution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Maja D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Kaspersen
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Emil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kofod-Olsen
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fedder
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bonde
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Höllsberg
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000648:ultrastructure / Q000821:virology*; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019349:Roseolovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D012661:Semen / Q000821:virology*; D014019:Tissue Donors; D053585:Virus Attachment; D017201:Virus Shedding