Infectious hepatitis E virus is associated with the mature sperm head.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the leading cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. HEV associated pregnancy mortality has been reported as up to 30% in humans. Recent findings suggest HEV may elicit effects directly in the reproductive system with HEV protein found in the testis, viral RNA in semen, and viral replication occurring in placental cell types. Using a natural host model for HEV infection, pigs, we demonstrate infectious HEV within the mature spermatozoa and altered sperm viability from HEV infected pigs. HEV isolated from sperm remained infectious suggesting a potential transmission route via sexual partners. Our findings suggest that HEV should be explored as a possible sexually transmittable disease. Our findings propose that infection routes outside of oral and intravenous infection need to be considered for their potential to contribute to higher mortality in HEV infections when pregnancy is involved and in HEV disease in general.

Human papilloma virus in the sperm cryobank: an emerging problem?

Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is very common worldwide, but the actual incidence and significance of HPV infection in sperm are poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the presence of HPV in spermatozoa from thawed semen samples previously stored in our sperm bank. We performed polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization for HPV detection in cryovials belonging to 98 oncology patients and in 60 semen samples from healthy controls. Statistical analysis was performed by two-tailed Student's t-test and Fisher's exact test. The frequency of HPV semen infection was 6.1% in thawed cryovials from patients and 3.3% in semen samples from controls. Among the patients, four were found positive for high-risk HPV, one for medium-risk HPV and another for low-risk HPV. Patients had a significantly higher percentage of infected sperm than controls. In conclusion, this report shows the presence of HPV in sperm cells from cryovials of a sperm bank. It is still unclear if HPV-infected sperm are able to cross-contaminate cryovials and impair the outcome of assisted reproduction techniques or to infect partners. Further studies are needed to understand whether screening for HPV should be performed in all semen samples before sperm banking or before intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection procedures.

Detection of oncogenic human papillomavirus genotypes on spermatozoa from male partners of infertile couples.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) sperm infection and its correlation with sperm parameters in patients who attended a fertility clinic. DESIGN: Cross-sectional clinical study. SETTING: University-affiliated reproductive medicine clinic. PATIENT(S): A total of 308 male partners of couples undergoing in vitro fertilization techniques. INTERVENTION(S): Specimens of semen were collected from all patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Sperm parameters were evaluated according to the World Health Organization manual. The presence of HPV DNA was researched by the combined use of two HPV assays and a highly sensitive nested polymerase chain reaction assay followed by HPV genotyping. To examine whether HPV was associated with the sperm, in situ hybridization (ISH) analysis was performed. RESULT(S): Results of HPV investigation were compared with sperm parameters and ISH analysis. Twenty-four out of 308 semen samples (7.8%) were HPV DNA positive, but HPV infection did not seem to affect semen quality. Moreover, ISH revealed a clear HPV localization at the equatorial region of sperm head in infected samples. CONCLUSION(S): Oncogenic HPV genotypes were detected on spermatozoa from asymptomatic subjects, but a role of the infection in male infertility was not demonstrated.

Human papillomavirus found in sperm head of young adult males affects the progressive motility.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) sperm infection and its correlation with sperm parameters in a cohort of young adult males. DESIGN: Cross-sectional clinical study. SETTING: Andrology and Microbiology sections at a university hospital. PATIENT(S): A cohort of 200 young adult male volunteers (18 years old), 100 with previous sexual intercourse and 100 without previous sexual intercourse. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Seminal parameters, sperm culture for HPV and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis for HPV detection in the sperm head. Statistical analysis was performed with a two-tailed Student's t-test. RESULT(S): Results of HPV investigation were compared to sperm parameters and results of FISH analysis. HPV infection was present in sperm cells of 10 subjects among those 100 young adults who already had unprotected intercourse and its presence was associated with reduced sperm motility. Furthermore, infected samples showed that about 25% of sperm had an HPV DNA positivity at the head site, but it is unclear whether it was integrated in the nucleus or not. CONCLUSION(S): This is the first report estimating the percentage of HPV-positive sperm in infected subjects and the association between HPV infection and sperm motility.

Sperm head agglutination induced by V3 peptide does not occur through a CD4 receptor.

BACKGROUND: Although recent studies have shown that HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) can attach to sperm, the mechanism by which it does this is not yet understood. It has been shown that CD4 receptors on T4 cells are responsible for the binding of gp120 (glycoprotein 120) to HIV; however, the existence of CD4 receptors on sperm is controversial. The V3 peptide is part of gp120 and crucial for the syncytium formation by CD4 receptors. In this study we used an anti-CD4 antibody to block V3 peptide-induced sperm head agglutination in an attempt to gain a further understanding of the mechanism of HIV attachment to sperm. METHODS: Ten semen samples from 10 healthy men were studied. A sperm head fixation method (SHFM) was used to evaluate the blocking effect of anti-CD4 antibody (Q4120) of V3 peptide-induced sperm head agglutination in phosphate-buffered saline solution. RESULTS: While the sperm swam out of the micropipette, as occurs in SHFM, the V3 peptide induced an average of 53.2 +/- 10.8 (mean +/- SEM) head-to-head bound sperm (in the 10 semen samples. The sperm that had been preincubated with anti-CD4 antibody induced an average of 54.1 +/- 11.6 head-to-head bound sperm. There was no significant difference found between sperm that had been preincubated or not preincubated with anti-CD4 antibody, in terms of sperm head agglutination. CONCLUSIONS: The anti-CD4 antibody can block the binding of gp120 and CD4 positive T cells in a low concentration, but it did not block V3 peptide-induced sperm head agglutination. Therefore, V3 peptide-induced sperm head agglutination may not occur through a CD4 receptor.

Use of atomic force microscopy to reveal sperm ultrastructure in HIV-patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been employed to examine morphological and topographical changes caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on spermatozoon of HIV infected patients. This powerful technique has allowed us to visualize morphological alterations present in the spermatozoa of patients either with or without treatment. In addition to this, even the minute details, such as viral particles, located on the membrane of the spermatozoa, and the merging of such particles on the surface of the spermatozoa were detected with precision. The most important aspect is that AFM, unlike electron microscopy, permits to image virions in their nearly natural environment. Excess of damage of spermatozoon is due to the chemicals involved in HAART rather than the damage made by virus.