title: Genetic testing of sperm donors for cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy: evaluation of clinical utility.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical utility of genetic testing for cystic fibrosis (CF) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in sperm donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied the results of the genetic tests for CF and SMA applied to 372 sperm donor candidates. The CF carrier screening test analysed 32 mutations on the CFTR gene. Regarding SMA, the carrier test studied possible deletions of SMN1/2 by Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) methodology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The carrier frequency obtained was greater for SMA than for CF. After adjusting the results obtained for the sensitivity of the tests, and taking into account the prevalence of female carriers in our population, the probability of transmission of the disease to the child from a donor with a negative genetic test was about five times lower in the case of SMA than in CF, although this difference was not statistically significant. The number of donors needed to screen (NNS) to avoid the occurrence of a child being affected by CF and SMA in our population was similar in both cases (1591 vs. 1536).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates the need to include SMA among the diseases for which genetic screening is performed in the process of sperm donor selection. We believe that testing donors for SMA is as important and as useful as doing so for CF.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Reproducción, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Landaburu
authors.forename: M-C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Gonzalvo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Clavero
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoldi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mozas
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zamora
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: J-A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Castilla
mesh_terms: D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019005:Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator / Q000235:genetics*; D006580:Genetic Carrier Screening; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen; D013074:Sperm Banks / Q000592:standards; D014897:Spinal Muscular Atrophies of Childhood / Q000235:genetics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055533:Survival of Motor Neuron 1 Protein / Q000235:genetics*; D014019:Tissue Donors
chemical_list: C526471:SMN1 protein, human; D055533:Survival of Motor Neuron 1 Protein; D019005:Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator
keywords: Carrier screening tests; Cystic fibrosis; Sperm donors; Spinal muscular atrophy