HPV infection in male partners of infertile couples seems to not affect seminal parameters

[P-057] HPV infection in male partners of infertile couples seems to not affect seminal parameters A.M. Brucculeri1, G. Ruvolo1, L. Giovannelli2, R. Schillaci3, E. Cittadini1, G. Scaravelli4, A. Perino3. 1Centro di Biologia della Riproduzione, Centro di Biologia della Riproduzione, Palermo, Italy; 2University of Palermo, Dipartimento di Scienze per la Promozione della Salute, Palermo, Italy; 3University of Palermo, Dipartimento Materno Infantile, Palermo, Italy; 4Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy Introduction: Human papilloma viruses (HPV) are agents of the most common sexually transmitted disease. This small DNA viruses induce epithelial cell proliferation and high risk HPV types have been associated with cancers of the anogenital mucosa in men and women. Since it was demonstrated the presence of the virus in semen (Rintala M.A. et al., 2004), there is a growing interest on impact of HPV infection on male fertility and reproductive function. While data from recent studies suggest a possible role of HPV as a cause of miscarriage in couples undergoing assisted reproduction techniques cycles (Perino A. et al. 2011), the effect of infection on semen parameters is still a controversial topic. Some authors reported that seminal HPV infection was associated with reduced sperm motility (Lai Y.M. et al. 2007; Foresta C. et al. 2010) while other authors did not find any effects on sperm quality (Rintala M.A. et al., 2004). The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of human papillomavirus on semen quality parameters in patients who attended our fertility clinic. Matherial and Methods: A cohort of 316 male partner of couple undergoing IVF/ICSI were investigated for HPV infection and seminal samples were collected to evaluate semen parameters according to WHO (2010) manual. The presence of HPV DNA was researched by the combined use of two HPV assays, namely, the INNO-LiPA HPV Genotyping kit (Innogenetics N.V., Ghent, Belgium), based on the combined use of SPF10 PCR and LiPA hybridisation (Kleter, 1999); and a highly sensitive nested PCR assay, with the PGMY09/11 and GP05 + /GP06 + primer pairs, followed by direct sequencing of PCR products for HPV genotyping (Giovannelli, 2004). HPV types were considered as low-risk (LR)- or high-risk (HR) oncogenic types, according to two recently published classifications of HPV types (Munoz, 2003; de Villiers, 2004). Statistical analysis of data was performed by Chi Square test using Pearson's Product Moment Coefficient and a p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: No statistically significant difference was found in sperm parameters in HPV-infected and in non-infected semen samples. Mean number of sperm ( ± SD) was 29.8 × 106/mL ( ± 24.9), and 25.9 × 106/mL ( ± 25.8), respectively, in HPV positive and HPV negative men. HPV-infected and non-infected semen samples had similar rapid/slow progressive motility (mean ± SD) (35.2% ± 19 vs 28.4 ± 20.3) and non progressive motility (18.5 ± 11.01 vs 20.6 ± 13.2). We found no relationship between HPV infection and sperm normal morphology (60% in negative HPV patients and 62.3% in HPV positive ones). Conclusion: According to data from Rintala et al., our results suggest that HPV infection causes no clinically significant alteration of semen parameters. Session Info: POSTER VIEWING SESSION, ANDROLOGY Close Window