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PMID: 31006710 Published · ppublish English Journal Article

Reduced semen quality in patients with testicular cancer seminoma is associated with alterations in the expression of sperm proteins.

Asian journal of andrology ·Vol. 22 ·No. 1 ·2020-00-00 ·Pages 88-93

Dias TR, Agarwal A, Pushparaj PN, Ahmad G, Sharma R

Abstract

Testicular cancer seminoma is one of the most common types of cancer among men of reproductive age. Patients with this condition usually present reduced semen quality, even before initiating cancer therapy. However, the underlying mechanisms by which testicular cancer seminoma affects male fertility are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate alterations in the sperm proteome of men with seminoma undergoing sperm banking before starting cancer therapy, in comparison to healthy proven fertile men (control group). A routine semen analysis was conducted before cryopreservation of the samples (n = 15 per group). Men with seminoma showed a decrease in sperm motility (P = 0.019), total motile count (P = 0.001), concentration (P = 0.003), and total sperm count (P = 0.001). Quantitative proteomic analysis identified 393 differentially expressed proteins between the study groups. Ten proteins involved in spermatogenesis, sperm function, binding of sperm to the oocyte, and fertilization were selected for validation by western blot. We confirmed the underexpression of heat shock-related 70 kDa protein 2 (P = 0.041), ubiquinol-cytochrome C reductase core protein 2 (P = 0.026), and testis-specific sodium/potassium-transporting ATPase subunit alpha-4 (P = 0.016), as well as the overexpression of angiotensin I converting enzyme (P = 0.005) in the seminoma group. The altered expression levels of these proteins are associated with spermatogenesis dysfunction, reduced sperm kinematics and motility, failure in capacitation and fertilization. The findings of this study may explain the decrease in the fertilizing ability of men with seminoma before starting cancer therapy.

Keywords
male fertility proteomics seminoma sperm proteins sperm quality testicular cancer
MeSH Terms
Acrosin/metabolism Adult Case-Control Studies Chaperonin Containing TCP-1/metabolism Electron Transport Complex III/metabolism HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins/metabolism Humans Male Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/metabolism Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex/metabolism Proteomics Semen Analysis Seminoma/metabolism Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase/metabolism Sperm Count Sperm Motility Spermatozoa/metabolism Testicular Neoplasms/metabolism
Chemicals
CCT3 protein, human HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins HSPA2 protein, human Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A Acrosin Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex ATP1A4 protein, human Chaperonin Containing TCP-1 Electron Transport Complex III Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Dias Tânia R
American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. | Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã 6201-001, Portugal. | Department of Microscopy and Unit for Multidisciplinary Research in Biomedicine, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto 4050-313, Portugal.
Agarwal Ashok
American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
Pushparaj Peter N
Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
Ahmad Gulfam
Division of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, Sydney University, Lidcombe NSW 2141, Australia.
Sharma Rakesh
American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
Conflict of Interest

None

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Article Info
Journal
Asian journal of andrology
Abbr.
Asian J Androl
ISSN
1745-7262
DOI
10.4103/aja.aja_17_19
Published
2020-00-00
Pages
88-93
Language
English
Region
China
NLM ID
100942132
PMCID
PMC6958970
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.4103/aja.aja_17_19 PMC Full Text View journal details
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