Association of asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis infection with male infertility and the effect of antibiotic therapy in improvement of semen quality in infected infertile men

The role of asymptomatic infections caused by Chlamydia trachomatis in male infertility and the efficacy of antibiotics in the treatment of this condition are not yet definitely determined. A total of 165 infertile males having abnormal semen parameters (study group) as well as 165 healthy fertile men (control group) were included. Semen samples were taken from all participants and after analysing for semen parameters, undergone real‐time PCR, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assays. Infected individuals of study group were treated with antibiotic. One month after the treatment completion, second semen samples were taken and undergone all the tests mentioned. The frequency of C. trachomatis was significantly higher in the infertile men compared with the fertile ones (4.2% vs 0.6%). Most of the semen parameters were improved and reached their normal range, the level of TAC elevated and ROS level as well as ROS/TAC ratio reduced after antibiotic treatment. Moreover, wives of three infected infertile men (42.9%) became pregnant 4 months after the treatment completion. Our data suggest that asymptomatic infection caused by C. trachomatis is correlated with male infertility and antibiotic therapy can improve the semen quality and fairly treat the male infertility.     

Screening for Chlamydia trachomatis and Ureaplasma urealyticum infection in semen from asymptomatic male partners of infertile couples prior to in vitro fertilization

In a prospective study, the prevalence of infection with Chlamydia trachomatis and Ureaplasma urealyticum was evaluated in the semen of 92 asymptomatic male partners of infertile couples using polymerase chain reaction and culture, respectively. The results were compared with the detection of serologically specific antibodies. U. urealyticum and C. trachomatis were detected in 12 (13%) and 10 (10.8%) of the tested ejaculates, respectively. One mixed infection was detected. No correlation was found between detection of the pathogens in ejaculates and the presence of specific antibodies in serum. This study therefore confirms the limited diagnostic value of serological analysis to ascertain infection with C. trachomatis or U. urealyticum. The high frequency of detection of these pathogens among asymptomatic male partners of infertile couples emphasizes their potential role in the impairment of male fertility, and the need for sensitive and specific detection methods to prevent infection of the early embryo when using new reproductive techniques such as zona pellucida hatching or intracytoplasmic microinjection.     

Development of a highly sensitive digital PCR assay to quantify long non-coding RNA MYU in urine samples which exhibited great potential as an alternative diagnostic biomarker for prostate cancer

BackgroundThe diagnostic methods of prostate cancer (PCa) present major drawbacks in that serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing lacks specificity for PCa and prostate needle biopsy is a painful and highly invasive procedure for patients. Thus, new alternative screening methods which are specific and non-invasive both in the early detection and in the clinical definitive diagnosis of PCa are in urgent need. Long non-coding RNA MYU has been shown to promote PCa cell proliferation and migration, and is significantly upregulated both at the cellular and tumor tissue level. Therefore, long non-coding RNA MYU may be a new potential diagnostic biomarker for PCa.MethodsIn the present study, we successfully developed a highly sensitive digital PCR assay to detect long non-coding RNA in clinical urine samples. dPCR was carried out using Qx200 ddPCR EvaGreen Supermix (Bio-Rad) according to the manufacturer’s instructions.ResultsOur results indicated that the digital PCR assay showed better linearity, repeatability, and reproducibility when compared with real-time quantitative PCR. In addition, we identified the normalized MYU level and used the digital PCR assay to measure it in 100 clinical urine samples. Our study showed that the normalized MYU level is a promising diagnostic biomarker for predicting and evaluating the malignancy of PCa.ConclusionsOur findings presented a non-invasive liquid biopsy method to detect an alternative diagnostic parameter which can assist the diagnosis of PCa in clinical practice.