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Length of Androgen Receptor–CAG Repeats in Fertile and Infertile Egyptian Men

IBRAHIM FAHMY^*,

WAEL M. ABDEL-MEGID

KAY ELDER

MARIJO KENT-FIRST

From ^* The Egyptian In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer Centre, Hadayk El-Maadi, Cairo, Egypt; Andrology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; Obstetrics & Gynecology Unit, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin; and Bourn Hall Clinic, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Correspondence to: Dr Marijo Kent-First, Department of Biological Sciences, Box GY, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39672 (e-mail: mk247{at}msstate.edu).

Abstract

Androgens play key roles in spermatogenesis, and they exert their effect via the androgen receptor (AR). The AR gene has a repetitive DNA sequence in exon 1 that encodes a polyglutamine tract. Instability in the glutamine (CAG) repeat unit length is polymorphic across ethnic groups. Previous studies of the relationship between the repeat unit length and male infertility have been contradictory. To establish the range of wild-type alleles in Egyptian men, we determined the range of repeat lengths in a population of normally fertile, ethnically selected Egyptian men. We also investigated the association between trinucleotide repeat length within the AR gene and male factor infertility in a population of ethnically selected Egyptian infertile men, who were compared with fertile, ethnic group–matched and age-matched controls. The study included 129 clinically selected infertile Egyptian men who were scheduled for intracytoplasmic sperm injection and 52 ethnically matched fertile controls. The experimental population was grouped according to sperm counts ranging from nonobstructive azoospermia to normozoospermia. The CAG repeat N-terminal domain region of the AR gene was amplified in peripheral blood DNA, and allele size was determined by fragment analysis. Allele size and single-nucleotide polymorphism and mutation rates were determined by sequencing individual amplified alleles. The mean CAG repeat length in the azoospermia group was 18.55 ± 2.0; in the severe oligozoospermia group it was 18.21 ± 3.42; in the oligozoospermia group it was 18.27 ± 2.93; and in the infertile with normal sperm count group it was 17.72 ± 2.0. In the control group, the mean CAG repeat length was 18.18 ± 3.63. No significant correlation was found between CAG repeat length and the risk of male factor infertility in an ethnically defined population of Egyptian men. However, a significant and positive correlation between CAG repeat length and serum testosterone concentration was demonstrated. This suggests the involvement of epigenetic regulation linked to this region.

     Key words: Male infertility, spermatogenesis, trinucleotide repeat