[Male sterility and reciprocal translocation (4;15). Description of a case]

Chromosome abnormalities in infertile males are not infrequent, ranging from 4% to about 1% for sex and autosomal chromosomes respectively. Autosomal abnormalities mainly consist of balanced translocations, mostly robertsonian. The Authors report a case of reciprocal translocation t (4;15) associated with oligozoospermia and sterility in a 37 years-old man. The break-points involved in the translocation (4q25; 15p11) seem to be quite uncommon. The possible relationship between this unusual translocation and sterility is discussed.