The presence of human papillomavirus in semen does not affect the integrity of sperm DNA

Abstract

It remains unknown whether human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in semen affect sperm DNA integrity. We investigated whether the presence of these viruses in semen was associated with an elevated sperm DNA fragmentation index. Semen samples of 22 normozoospermic patients undergoing infertility treatment, nine fertile donors and seven fertile men with a risk of HPV infection (genital warts or condylomas) were included in the study. The samples were examined by an INNO-LiPA test PCR-based reverse hybridisation array that identifies 28 types of HPVs as simple or multiple infections. Sperm DNA integrity was determined by sperm chromatin dispersion assay (SCD). Our preliminary findings demonstrate an increase in HPV infection in infertile men with respect to fertile men. However, the sperm DNA fragmentation index was not increased in semen containing these viruses.

The risk of human papillomavirus infection for male fertility abnormality: a meta-analysis

“…In subgroup analysis, involving studies where the authors had excluded males with an infertility factor associated with their spouse, 24 25 27 29 30 31 the pooled OR was 3.25 (95% CI: 2.22–4.75; I 2 = 0.0%).…”

“…As a result, eight articles were included in the final meta-analysis, providing data on 1955 participants. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 The main characteristics of the studies included in our meta-analysis are described in Table 1 . Most of these studies were of high quality; only two were of low quality.…”

“… 27 31 In five studies, the authors detected both high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) and low-risk HPV (LR-HPV) genotypes in semen. 24 26 28 30 In another two studies, the authors only investigated HR genotypes. 25 27 In four studies, the authors excluded males from groups of infertile males because of an infertility factor associated with their spouse.…”

“… 25 27 In four studies, the authors excluded males from groups of infertile males because of an infertility factor associated with their spouse. 24 25 29 30 In one study, males were defined as infertile when their sperm concentration was <20 × 10 6 ml −1 or when sperm motility was <50%, 26 while in another study, all participants in the infertile male groups were additionally affected by infection of the male accessory gland. 28 Two studies did not report a detailed definition of male infertility.…”

“…Due to the lack of a detailed definition of male infertility, two studies 27 31 were removed from the pooled analysis of the risk of HPV infection upon male fertility abnormality. The results of six studies, 24 25 26 28 29 30 with a total of 1756 participants, indicated that the infection of semen with HPV was a risk factor for male fertility abnormality, with a pooled OR of 3.02 (95% CI: 2.11–4.32; I 2 = 6.9%; Figure 2 ).…”