title: Biomarkers of chemotherapy-induced testicular damage.
abstract: Increasing numbers of men are having or wanting children after chemotherapy treatment. This can be attributed to improvements in cancer therapies that increase survival. However, a side effect of most chemotherapy drugs is disruption of spermatogenesis and a drastic reduction in sperm count and quality. Although many men eventually recover reproductive function, as indicated by normal semen analyses, there is no clinical test that can assess sperm quality at a high level of sensitivity. Sperm fluorescent in situ hybridization (i.e., FISH) and several different tests for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation have been used infrequently in clinical assessment. Animal models of chemotherapy-induced testicular damage are currently being used to identify potential molecular biomarkers that may be translatable to humans-these include sperm messenger RNAs, microRNAs, histone modifications, and DNA methylation patterns. Changes in these molecular measurements are quantitative and sensitive, potentially making them important clinical biomarkers of testicular function after chemotherapy treatment.
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dere
authors.forename: Linnea M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boekelheide
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D055101:Semen Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013737:Testis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Chemotherapy; biomarkers; testicular damage; transgenerational