and Variants in Idiopathic Male Infertility: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Idiopathic Male Infertility is a widespread problem affecting approximately 10 to 15 percent of men of reproductive age. Several genes have been studied related to idiopathic male infertility. Thereafter, among the family of non-coding RNAs, microRNAs are shown to play a very important role in the regulation of a subset of genes. It has been documented that infertile men have differentially expressed miRNA. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of two genetic variants, rs2858060 and rs2910164 on idiopathic male infertility.

Materials And Methods: In this case-control study, Blood samples were taken from 201 men with idiopathic infertility and 201 men in a healthy state for this case-control investigation. Genotype determination of desired polymorphisms was done using the Tetra-ARMS PCR technique and data was analyzed by SPSS software version 20. Significant associations were determined at an alpha level of 0.05.

Results: The study found a significant association between the rs2858060 GG genotype and idiopathic male infertility in the recessive genetic model [odds ratio (OR)=2.02, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.25-3.24, P=0.004]. After adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and alcohol consumption, the association between the genotypes and the disease remained significant. No significant association was observed between miR-146a rs2910164 genotypes and male infertility in all genetic models (P>0.05). Moreover, haplotype analysis showed that the CC (rs2858060/ rs2910164) haplotype is associated with the decreased risk of idiopathic male infertility (OR=0.728, 95% CI =0.54-0.98, P=0.035).

Conclusion: rs2858060 and rs2910164 polymorphisms influence the risk of male infertility in Iranian population. This is the first report to examine the role of rs2858060 and rs2910164 in male infertility, further studies involving different ethnicity and larger sample sizes are needed to confirm our findings.