Genetic tests could detect male infertility in minutes
GENETIC screening can pick up male infertility without the need for months of trial-and-error testing, scientists have shown.
A team led by Washington State University found that infertile men have specific molecules attached to the DNA of their sperm which are not present in fertile men.
The breakthrough could not only provide a screening test for thousands of men, but may also give new clues as to what causes infertility.
The markers were found on the epigenome, the part of the genetic code that decides how the genes should operate. Unlike genes, the epigenome can change over time based on lifestyle and the environment.
Dr Michael Skinner, a reproductive biologist at the university, said: “Male infertility is increasing worldwide and is recognised as playing a key role in reproductive health and disease.
“Having a diagnostic that tells you, right away, ‘Your male patient is infertile and here are the treatment options that will work for him’, would be immensely useful.”
About one in seven couples in Britain is infertile and in one quarter of cases the cause is unknown.
Currently, the primary method for diagnosing male infertility is to assess sperm quantity and motility, but this has had limited success.
In an estimated 20 per cent of men the cause is unknown; they are typically
‘This diagnostic could tell you, “Your male patient is infertile and here are the treatments that will work”’
told to try naturally for a year before IVF. This test could tell if a man would be able to have a baby naturally.
The study found that all of the infertile men possessed a specific biomarker that fertile men did not. They also found another molecular marker in infertile patients that could be used to determine who would be responsive to hormone therapy treatment.
The researchers are currently setting up a much larger clinical trial to test their male infertility diagnostic for potential commercialisation.
The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.