Potential of testis-derived circular RNAs in seminal plasma to predict the outcome of microdissection testicular sperm extraction in patients with idiopathic non-obstructive azoospermia,Human Reproduction

当前位置： X-MOL 学术 › Hum. Reprod. › 论文详情

Our official English website, www.x-mol.net, welcomes your feedback! (Note: you will need to create a separate account there.)

Potential of testis-derived circular RNAs in seminal plasma to predict the outcome of microdissection testicular sperm extraction in patients with idiopathic non-obstructive azoospermia
Human Reproduction ( IF 6.0 ) Pub Date : 2021-08-09 , DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deab196
Chengjian Ji ₁ , Yichun Wang ₁ , Xiyi Wei ₁ , Xingyu Zhang ₂ , Rong Cong ₁ , Liangyu Yao ₁ , Chao Qin ₁ , Ninghong Song _{1,

3}

Affiliation

STUDY QUESTION Do testis-derived circular RNAs (circRNAs) in seminal plasma have potential as biomarkers to predict the outcome of microdissection testicular sperm extraction (micro-TESE) in patients with idiopathic non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA)? SUMMARY ANSWER Testis-derived circRNAs in the seminal plasma can indeed be used for predicting the outcome of micro-TESE in patients with idiopathic NOA. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Micro-TESE is an effective method to obtain sperm samples from patients with idiopathic NOA. However, its success rate is only 40–50% in such patients. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Six idiopathic NOA patients with different micro-TESE results were included as the discovery cohort. Their testicular tissues were used for extracting and sequencing circRNAs. Five circRNAs with the most significantly different expression levels were selected for further verification. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Fifty-two patients with idiopathic NOA were included as the validation cohort. Preoperative seminal plasma samples of 52 patients with idiopathic NOA and 25 intraoperative testicular tissues were collected and divided into ‘success’ and ‘failure’ groups according to the results of micro-TESE. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to verify differences in the expression levels of the selected circRNAs between the two groups in the testicular tissues and seminal plasma. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Whether at the seminal plasma or testicular tissue level, the differences in the expression levels of the three circRNAs (hsa_circ_0000277, hsa_circ_0060394 and hsa_circ_0007773) between the success and failure groups were consistent with the sequencing results. A diagnostic receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis of the AUC indicated excellent diagnostic performance of these circRNAs in seminal plasma in predicting the outcome of micro-TESE (AUC values: 0.920, 0.928 and 0.891, respectively). On the basis of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression, the three circRNAs were combined to construct a new prediction model. The diagnostic ROC curve analysis of the model showed an AUC value of 0.958. The expression levels of these circRNAs in seminal plasma using three normospermic volunteer samples remained stable after 48 h at room temperature. LARGE SCALE DATA NA. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION This was a single-center retrospective study with relatively few cases. The functions of these circRNAs, as well as their relationship with spermatogenesis, have not yet been established. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Testis-derived circRNAs in seminal plasma can reflect the microenvironment of the testis and can be used as reliable biomarkers to screen patients with idiopathic NOA who might be suitable for micro-TESE. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This article was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 81871151). There were no competing interests.

更新日期：2021-08-09

点击分享查看原文

点击收藏

阅读更多本刊最新论文本刊介绍/投稿指南11