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Seminal plasma miRNAs in Klinefelter syndrome and in obstructive and non-obstructive azoospermia

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Abstract

MicroRNAs are small, non-coding, single-strand oligonucleotides which regulate gene expression. There is little evidence in the literature about their role in azoospermia and no studies have investigated their presence in the seminal plasma of men with Klinefelter syndrome. This retrospective study investigated if there were any differences in microRNA expression (miR-509-5p, miR-122-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-34c-5p) in the seminal plasma of patients with obstructive azoospermia, non-obstructive azoospermia and Klinefelter syndrome. Hormone levels were also investigated to identify any correlations with microRNA expression. We analysed 200 subjects (40 Klinefelter syndrome, 60 non-obstructive azoospermia with a normal karyotype, 60 obstructive azoospermia and 40 who were normozoospermic). All subjects underwent semen examination. Total RNA was obtained from seminal plasma and microRNA expression was analysed by RT-qPCR. There was a significant reduction in the expression of all investigated miRNAs in the seminal plasma of all patient categories in comparison with controls. There was a weak negative correlation between FSH values and miR-509-5p expression in non-obstructive azoospermic patients (r = − 0.391; p = 0.014). We hypothesize that in non-obstructive azoospermia and Klinefelter syndrome patients, the downregulation of microRNAs may be caused by damage to the germ cells and aberrant spermatogenesis. In our opinion the identification of seminal plasma microRNAs deriving almost exclusively from the testes could be essential for the development of specific biomarkers for male infertility. The expression of such microRNAs, in combination with hormone values, could comprise testicular markers of abnormal spermatogenesis and failed mature sperm production.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Marie-Hélène Hayles for her assistance in the English translation of the manuscript.

Funding

Supported by a Grant from the Italian Ministry of Education and Research (MIUR-PRIN 2015-2015XSNA83-002) and the University of Rome “Sapienza” Faculty of Medicine.

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Author notes

  1. Federica Finocchi and Marianna Pelloni have contributed equally to this manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Seminology - Sperm Bank “Loredana Gandini”, Department of Experimental Medicine, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Viale del Policlinico 155, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Federica Finocchi, Marianna Pelloni, Francesco Pallotti, Andrea Lenzi, Francesco Lombardo & Donatella Paoli

  2. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Molecular Sciences, Umberto I Hospital, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy

    Giancarlo Balercia

  3. Hormone Laboratory, Department of Experimental Medicine - Medical Pathophysiology Section, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Antonio F. Radicioni

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  1. Federica Finocchi
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  2. Marianna Pelloni
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  3. Giancarlo Balercia
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  4. Francesco Pallotti
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  6. Andrea Lenzi
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Contributions

DP conceived and designed the experiments; FF and MP wrote the article; FF and MP acquired and analysed the data; DP, FP and FL contributed to data interpretation; AFR, GB and AL and FL contributed to manuscript revision. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Donatella Paoli.

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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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This retrospective study was approved by our University Hospital’s institutional review board (Protocol 835/18).

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Finocchi, F., Pelloni, M., Balercia, G. et al. Seminal plasma miRNAs in Klinefelter syndrome and in obstructive and non-obstructive azoospermia. Mol Biol Rep 47, 4373–4382 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05552-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05552-x

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