Cytokines in the blood and semen of infertile patients

Abstract

Cytokines have been important mediators of the immunity and can be involved in numerous processes in the male genital tract including acting as immunomodulatory elements within the male gonad.The aims of this study were: 1) to detect pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine levels in the control group and subgroups of infertile men; and 2) to set up the practical recommendations concerning determination of cytokine levels for the male infertility diagnosis.Observations were performed in a group of 82 men: healthy controls (n = 27) and infertile patients (n = 55). The male infertility group was further subdivided into patients with: varicocele (n = 22), idiopathic infertility (n = 13) and partners of couples with recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA; n = 20). Semen analysis was determined following WHO criteria. The cytokine interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-10, IL-18; tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interferon g (IFN-g) and transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) contents in serum and seminal plasma were determined by quantitative ELISA.An interesting marker of male infertility appears to be TGF-β1 (blood) significantly elevated in idiopathically infertile males and in the RSA group. Besides elevated TGF-β1 in a group of idiopathic infertility significantly elevated IL-10, IL-18, IFN-g (blood) and statistically decreased IL-1β while increased IFN-g were revealed in seminal plasma compared to healthy controls.We may postulate novel cytokine micropatterns for patients with different background of infertility. Therefore, circulating cytokines: IL-1β, IL-10, IL-18, TGF-β1, IFN-g and IL-1β, IFN-g and TGF-β1 in seminal plasma should be extended in evaluation of specific types of male infertility.

N‐nitrosamines induced infertility and hepatotoxicity in male rabbits

“…Supporting this finding, it has been found that GSH levels, the activities of GR and GPx, were decreased in infertile men compared with the control group . Moreover, N‐nitrosamines caused severe inflammations and consequently increased the levels of cytokines, tumor necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α), interleukin‐1 alpha (IL‐1 α) and interleukin 1 beta (IL‐1 β) cytokines in the male reproductive tract (testis, epididymis and sperm) . Also, Chlamydia positive women with tubal infertility have higher IL‐10 than controls, which may contribute to their development of tubal pathology .…”

Human spermatozoa of male patients with subfertility express the interleukin‐6 receptor

“…Furthermore, leucocytospermia is associated with high reactive oxygen species (Henkel et al, 2003) and also with high cytokine production. Cytokines have been regarded as crucial players of the immune system and can be involved in various processes in the male genital tract including acting as immunomodulatory factors within the male gonad (Haidl, Haidl, Allam, & Schuppe, 2019;Havrylyuk et al, 2015). It is important to note that cytokines mostly act together in a network, which in turn can impair spermatogenesis directly or even indirectly (Seshadri et al, 2009).…”

“…Besides several discussed factors playing a role in fertility dysfunction of men, IL-6 with its receptor can be regarded as useful biomarkers for genital tract inflammation leading to subfertility. Furuya, Akashi, & Fuse, 2003;Havrylyuk et al, 2015). Moreover, to integrate IL-6 as an possibly important biomarker parameter for genitourinary tract inflammation (Haidl, Haidl, Oltermann, & Allam, 2015) in the routine sperm analysis could be one crucial step for analysing one cause of subfertility, because the role and function of leucocytes in semen, as well as their clinically relevant pathological threshold values, are a matter of debate (Havrylyuk et al, 2015;Lotti et al, 2011).…”

“…Nevertheless, the cellular immune response regarding fertility is largely unexplored (Gruschwitz, Brezinschek, & Brezinschek, ). Studies revealed several inflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor‐α, interleukin‐1β, interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) and interleukin‐8 are elevated in the seminal plasma of men with impaired fertility (Camejo, Segnini, & Proverbio, ; Dehghan Marvast, Aflatoonian, Talebi, Ghasemzadeh, & Pacey, ; Gruschwitz et al, ; Havrylyuk, Chopyak, Boyko, Kril, & Kurpisz, ; Naz & Kaplan, ; Paradisi et al, ). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the determination of peroxidase is a gold standard to determine the infection of male genital tract.…”

The role of the induced inflammatory-like reaction in a reproductive tract of woman during process of reproduction (a review)

“…Человеческая семенная жидкость содержит богатый набор цитокинов, хемокинов и других сигнальных факторов клетка-клетка, способных действовать как сигнальные агенты в тканях женского репродуктивного тракта. Среди них три изоформы трансформирующего фактора роста-β (TGF-β), интерлейкины IL-1A, IL-1B, IL-2, IL-7, IL-10, IL-17, IL-8 (хемокин CXCL8), гранулоцитарный макрофагальный колониестимулирующий фактор GM-CSF (CSF2), фактор некроза опухоли (TNF-α), фактор роста эндотелия сосудов (VEGF), а также простагландины (PGE) и стероидные гормоны [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Эти биологически активные вещества могут играть роль в формировании посткоитального воспалительного ответа в половых путях женщины [14].…”