title: Investigation of sperm telomere length as a potential marker of paternal genome integrity and semen quality.
abstract: Recent studies have reported shorter sperm telomere length (STL) in men with idiopathic infertility. The aim of this study was to measure STL in semen samples from men to evaluate whether STL variation is associated with chromosomal abnormality, DNA fragmentation, traditional semen parameters, IVF outcome, or all four factors. A significant correlation between telomere length and diploidy was observed (P = 0.037). Additionally, STL was found to be positively associated with sperm count (P = 0.006); oligospermic samples had particularly short telomeres (0.9 ± 0.1 versus 1.4 ± 0.1; P = 0.0019). The results confirmed a link between sperm DNA fragmentation and aneuploidy, previously proposed (P = 0.009). A negative relationship was demonstrated between sperm concentration and aneuploidy and Sperm DNA framentation (P = 0.03, P < 0.0001, respectively). For a subset of 51 of the 73 sperm samples used for fertilization, IVF outcomes were known. A total of 17.6% of these samples had atypical STLs. None of these samples produced an ongoing pregnancy. In contrast, the pregnancy rate for samples that had STLs in the normal range was 35.7% (P = 0.044). In conclusion, STL has potential as a fast and inexpensive form of sperm quality assessment.
authors.affiliation: Reprogenetics UK, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford OX4 2HW, UK; CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate s.c.a r.l., Via Gaetano Salvatore, 486, 80145 Naples, Italy. Electronic address: cariati@ceinge.unina.it.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cariati
authors.affiliation: Reprogenetics UK, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford OX4 2HW, UK.
authors.forename: Souraya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaroudi
authors.affiliation: Reprogenetics UK, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford OX4 2HW, UK.
authors.forename: Samer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alfarawati
authors.affiliation: Reprogenetics UK, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford OX4 2HW, UK.
authors.forename: Araz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raberi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Medicine, Odontostomatology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via S Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alviggi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Endocrinology, University of Naples Federico II, Via S Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pivonello
authors.affiliation: Reprogenetics UK, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford OX4 2HW, UK; Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.
authors.forename: Dagan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wells
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000782:Aneuploidy; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055101:Semen Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D013094:Spermatozoa; D016615:Telomere / Q000737:chemistry*
keywords: aneuploidy; human sperm; male infertility; sperm DNA damage; telomere length