lactoferrin and Infertility--Male

Oxidative stress has been established as one of the main causes of male infertility and has been implicated in many diseases associated with infertile men. It results from high concentrations of free radicals and suppressed antioxidant potential, which may alter protein expression in seminal plasma and/or spermatozoa. In recent years, proteomic analyses have been performed to characterize the protein profiles of seminal ejaculate from men with different clinical conditions, such as high oxidative stress. The aim of the present review is to summarize current findings on proteomic studies performed in men with high oxidative stress compared with those with physiological concentrations of free radicals, to better understand the aetiology of oxidative stress-induced male infertility. Each of these studies has suggested candidate biomarkers of oxidative stress, among them are DJ-1, PIP, lactotransferrin and peroxiredoxin. Changes in protein concentrations in seminal plasma samples with oxidative stress conditions were related to stress responses and to regulatory pathways, while alterations in sperm proteins were mostly associated to metabolic responses (carbohydrate metabolism) and stress responses. Future studies should include assessment of post-translational modifications in the spermatozoa as well as in seminal plasma proteomes of men diagnosed with idiopathic infertility. Oxidative stress, which occurs due to a state of imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants, has been implicated in most cases of male infertility. Cells that are in a state of oxidative stress are more likely to have altered protein expression. The aim of this review is to better understand the causes of oxidative stress-induced male infertility. To achieve this, we assessed proteomic studies performed on the seminal plasma and spermatozoa of men with high levels of oxidative stress due to various clinical conditions and compared them with men who had physiological concentrations of free radicals. A variety of sperm and seminal plasma proteins were found to be expressed either in abundance (over-expressed) or in a lesser amount (underexpressed), while other proteins were found to be unique either to men with oxidative stress or to men with a balanced ratio of antioxidants/free radicals. Each study included in this review suggested several proteins that could possibly act as biomarkers of oxidative stress-induced male infertility, such as protein DJ-1, PIP, lactotransferrin and pe

Topics: Biomarkers; Carrier Proteins; Free Radicals; Glycoproteins; Humans; Infertility, Male; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Lactoferrin; Male; Membrane Transport Proteins; Oncogene Proteins; Oxidative Stress; Peroxiredoxins; Protein Deglycase DJ-1; Proteomics; Semen; Spermatozoa

Infections and/or inflammation processes of male genital tract are highly prevalent and often associated with risk of infertility. These conditions represent a possible cause of leukocytospermia, which is still under debate. Leukocytes are key-factors to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and the increase of ROS in semen fluid is associated with the worsening of semen parameters. At present, there are not appropriate andrological tests to identify asymptomatic inflammatory conditions when the amount of leukocytes is in the normal range.. We studied the innate immunity profile of myeloperoxidase and lactoferrin (MPO/LAC) proteins expressed in the semen fluid of 39 men evaluated for couple infertility, in the absence of leukocytospermia.. The presence of both MPO and LAC proteins was associated with a decrease of sperm concentration and of progressive/total motility, whereas the increase of MPO-/LAC + indicated a worse sperm morphology. It is worth to report the predictive potential of MPO+/LAC + pattern (above 4.36 %) as a biological marker to distinguish normozoospermic from pathological patients.. Our findings indicate MPO/LAC analysis as a potential diagnostic tool to identify asymptomatic conditions eventually related to male infertility, even when the number of leukocytes in semen fluid is below 1 million/mL.

Topics: Adult; Biomarkers; Humans; Infertility, Male; Lactoferrin; Male; Peroxidase; Risk; Semen; Sperm Count; Sperm Motility

Metabolic disorders like diabetes mellitus and obesity may compromise the fertility of men and women. To unveil disease-associated proteomic changes potentially affecting male fertility, the proteomes of sperm cells from type-1 diabetic, type-2 diabetic, non-diabetic obese and clinically healthy individuals were comparatively analyzed by difference gel electrophoresis. The adaptation of a general protein extraction procedure to the solubilization of proteins from sperm cells allowed for the resolution of 3187 fluorescent spots in the difference gel electrophoresis image of the master gel, which contained the entirety of solubilized sperm proteins. Comparison of the pathological and reference proteomes by applying an average abundance ratio setting of 1.6 and a p ≤ 0.05 criterion resulted in the identification of 79 fluorescent spots containing proteins that were present at significantly changed levels in the sperm cells. Biometric evaluation of the fluorescence data followed by mass spectrometric protein identification revealed altered levels of 12, 71, and 13 protein species in the proteomes of the type-1 diabetic, type-2 diabetic, and non-diabetic obese patients, respectively, with considerably enhanced amounts of the same set of one molecular form of semenogelin-1, one form of clusterin, and two forms of lactotransferrin in each group of pathologic samples. Remarkably, β-galactosidase-1-like protein was the only protein that was detected at decreased levels in all three pathologic situations. The former three proteins are part of the eppin (epididymal proteinase inhibitor) protein complex, which is thought to fulfill fertilization-related functions, such as ejaculate sperm protection, motility regulation and gain of competence for acrosome reaction, whereas the putative role of the latter protein to function as a glycosyl hydrolase during sperm maturation remains to be explored at the protein/enzyme level. The strikingly similar differences detected in the three groups of pathological sperm proteomes reflect a disease-associated enhanced formation of predominantly proteolytically modified forms of three eppin protein complex components, possibly as a response to enduring hyperglycemia and enhanced oxidative stress.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Biomarkers; Case-Control Studies; Cell Shape; Clusterin; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Humans; Infertility, Male; Lactoferrin; Male; Middle Aged; Multiprotein Complexes; Obesity; Protein Isoforms; Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; Proteome; Reference Standards; Seminal Vesicle Secretory Proteins; Sperm Count; Sperm Motility; Spermatozoa; Two-Dimensional Difference Gel Electrophoresis; Young Adult

Leukocytes are often present in human seminal plasma and more frequently in infertile men. Leukocytospermia is associated with sperm morphological and functional alterations. Immune cell activation leads to an increase of free radical production, without any antioxidant defence activation. Leukocyte presence during sperm maturation and migration through male genital tract and consequently exposure to reactive oxygen species led to sperm alteration: axonemal, acrosomal and nuclear structure damage, associated with necrosis. In order to evaluate the immune-modulating and antioxidative activity of beta-glucan, fermented papaya and lactoferrin associated with vitamins C and E, we analysed sperm characteristics of selected infertile male with astheno-teratospermia and abacterial leukocytosis.. We selected 20 patients referred to our Sterility Centre for semen analysis with leukocyte concentration higher than 1x106 cell/mL. Seminal quality evaluation was performed according to WHO guidelines (1999) using Papanicolau and eosin staining, before and after three months of treatment with beta-glucan, papaya, lactoferrin, vitamin C and E.. After therapy, seminal analysis showed a significant reduction of leukocyte concentration and an increase of sperm motility and normal sperm morphology.. Our results suggest that a combined immunomodulating and antioxidant treatment protect sperm cells during maturation and migration through the male genital tract, resulting in a functional rescue demonstrated by the improvement of semen quality.

Topics: Adjuvants, Immunologic; Adult; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; beta-Glucans; Carica; Case-Control Studies; Drug Therapy, Combination; Fruit; Humans; Infertility, Male; Lactoferrin; Leukocytosis; Male; Middle Aged; Phytotherapy; Spermatozoa; Treatment Outcome; Vitamin E

Topics: Acid Phosphatase; Antigens; Beta-Globulins; Humans; Infertility, Male; Lactoferrin; Male; Oligospermia; Prostate; Semen