Downregulation of miR-211 expression in blood plasma of infertile men compared to the fertile controls

Abstract

Background: Infertility is defined as the inability of a couple to conceive after one year of having regular unprotected sex. Changes in the expressions of miRNAs are associated with impaired spermatogenesis and can be used as potential biomarkers of infertility in males. This study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of miR-211 as a predictive factor in plasma samples of intertile men compared to the controls Methods: In this case-control study, blood plasma samples were taken from the infertile men (n=103) non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) or severe oligozoospermia (SO) and the control group (n=121). The expression of circulating miR-211 in plasma samples were assessed by qRT-PCR. A relative quantification strategy was adopted using the2–ΔΔCT method to calculate the target miR-211 expression level in both study groups.Results: Plasma miR-211 levels were significantly lower in infertile men compared to the control (0.544±0.028 and 1.203±0.035, respectively, p<0.001). Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that miR-211 expression level correlated with sperm parameters, including sperm concentration, sperm total motility, progressive motility, and normal morphology (P<0.001).Conclusions: It seems that decreased expression level of miR-211 in blood plasma can be used as a novel male infertility biomarker for evaluation, diagnosis, and confirmation of semen analysis results.

Considerations for incorporating circulating miRNA into reproductive medicine—A letter regarding Naeimi et al. study

“…2 In this study, Naeimi et al focus on the potential role of circulating miR-211 levels in diagnosing male infertility, specifically in patients with nonobstructive azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia. 1 It demonstrates that infertile men exhibit significantly lower plasma miR-211 levels compared with a control group, establishing a strong correlation with various sperm parameters. These results suggest that miR-211 could serve as a valuable biomarker for evaluating spermatogenesisrelated infertility, offering a new approach to the diagnosis and assessment of male reproductive health issues.…”

“…Dear Editor, I read with great interest the study by Naeimi et al, published in the International Journal of Urology. 1 Recent years have seen a growing recognition of the clinical significance of non-coding RNAs. Among these, the diagnostic capability of circulating miRNAs for various diseases has been extensively reported in the literature.…”

Reply to the Letter to the Editor “Considerations for incorporating circulating miRNA into reproductive medicine—A letter regarding Naeimi et al. study”

“…Circulating miRNAs are good potential candidates for male infertility, and due to their size, abundance, detection at low concentrations, tissue specificity, and relative stability, they can have the potential capacity of a new noninvasive biomarker. 2 Our previous study showed that the distribution of CHD5 genotypes and frequency of alleles were statistically significant between infertile men and control groups and proposed that CHD5 polymorphism (rs9434741) could be associated with the risk of male infertility. 3 We discussed that the CHD5 gene plays a role in sperm density and there was shown a close connection between miR-211 and the CHD5 gene expression.…”