Despite the global incidence of both male infertility and sexually transmitted infections rising each year, the relationship between the two is relatively unstudied. Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted pathogen; however, the majority of research remains focussed on women, while the role of infection and resulting immunopathology in male factor infertility is largely unknown. Chlamydia was found in testicular biopsies from asymptomatic men with idiopathic infertility, which highlights this potential role. In animal models, testicular Chlamydia , and potentially other bacterial and viral infections, cause histopathology that is likely to adversely affect spermatogenesis and fertility. This likely occurs through infiltration of inflammatory cells, functional dysregulation of immunosuppressive testicular macrophages and Sertoli cells and destruction of key testicular cell types including sperm progenitors. Here, testicular damage due to infection and/or inflammation is reviewed, as it represents a probable underestimated and unrecognized factor leading to male infertility.

中文翻译：

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睾丸炎症和不孕症：衣原体感染会起作用吗？

尽管男性不育和性传播感染的全球发病率每年都在上升，但两者之间的关系却相对未经研究。衣原体是最常见的细菌性性传播病原体；然而，大多数研究仍然集中在女性身上，而感染和由此产生的免疫病理学在男性因素不育中的作用在很大程度上是未知的。在患有特发性不孕症的无症状男性的睾丸活检中发现了衣原体，这突出了这种潜在作用。在动物模型中，睾丸衣原体，以及潜在的其他细菌和病毒感染，导致可能对精子发生和生育能力产生不利影响的组织病理学。这可能是通过炎症细胞的浸润、免疫抑制性睾丸巨噬细胞和支持细胞的功能失调以及包括精子祖细胞在内的关键睾丸细胞类型的破坏而发生的。在这里，回顾了由于感染和/或炎症引起的睾丸损伤，因为它代表了导致男性不育的一个可能被低估和未被认识的因素。