Sperm miR-26a-5p and its target PTEN transcripts content in men with unexplained infertility

Recent evidence suggests that routine semen analysis has limited power to predict male fertility. Several efforts have been made to best discriminate between fertile and subfertile men using several sperm features. So, there is a need to more reliable assays for providing molecular data to evaluate sperm quality and predict male fertility.

Present study aimed to investigate relationship between sperm miR-26a-5p and its target PTEN transcript content and sperm parameters in unexplained infertile and healthy fertile men.

Sperm parameters and transcript content of miR-26a-5p and PTEN in ejaculated spermatozoa were assessed in fertile (n = 15) and normozoospermic infertile (n = 15) men.

Sperm transcript levels of miR-26a-5p were lower in unexplained infertile men than in fertile controls (P = .021). High sperm PTEN expression is correlated with low miR-26a-5p transcript levels in ejaculated spermatozoa. High levels of sperm miR-26a-5p transcript were associated with high sperm motility and normal morphology. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis indicated miR-26a-5p has a fairly good diagnostic value to distinguish fertile and unexplained infertile men with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.747 (95% confidence interval: 0.560-0.933; P = .021).

This study suggests that sperm miR-26a-5p and its target PTEN transcript content may contribute to infertility etiology in unexplained infertile patients.

miR-26a-5p has a potential to use as a diagnostic biomarker and provide new therapeutic approaches for male infertility.