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HPV infection in semen: results from a new molecular approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2019

G. Capra*
Affiliation:
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother-Child Care ‘G. D'Alessandro’ (PROSAMI), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
R. Schillaci
Affiliation:
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother-Child Care ‘G. D'Alessandro’ (PROSAMI), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
L. Bosco
Affiliation:
Department of Biological, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
M. C. Roccheri
Affiliation:
Department of Biological, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
A. Perino
Affiliation:
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother-Child Care ‘G. D'Alessandro’ (PROSAMI), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
M. A. Ragusa*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
*
Author for correspondence: M. A. Ragusa, E-mail: maria.ragusa@unipa.it and G. Capra, E-mail: giuseppina.capra@unipa.it
Author for correspondence: M. A. Ragusa, E-mail: maria.ragusa@unipa.it and G. Capra, E-mail: giuseppina.capra@unipa.it
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Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the agent of the most common sexually transmitted diseases causing a variety of clinical manifestations ranging from warts to cancer. Oncogenic HPV infection is the major cause of cervical cancer and less frequently of penile cancers. Its presence in semen is widely known, but the effects on fertility are still controversial. We developed a new approach to evaluate virus localisation in the different semen components. We analysed also the specific genotype localisation and viral DNA quantity by qPCR. Results show that HPV DNA can be identified in every fraction of semen: spermatozoa, somatic cells and seminal plasma. Different samples can contain the HPV DNA in different fractions and several HPV genotypes can be found in the same fraction. Additionally, different fractions may contain multiple HPV genotypes in different relative quantity. We analysed the wholeness of HPV DNA in sperm cells by qPCR. In one sample more than half of viral genomes were defective, suggesting a possible recombination event. The new method allows to easily distinguish different sperm infections and to observe the possible effects on semen. The data support the proposed role of HPV in decreased fertility and prompt new possible consequences of the infection in semen.

Information

Type
Original Paper
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019
Figure 0

Fig. 1. Semen fractions for differential DNA extraction.

Figure 1

Fig. 2. Microscope observations during differential lysis procedure. (a) Spermatozoa heads and detached tails after incubation in Digestion buffer. (b) Washed sperm heads in Digestion buffer without Dithiothreitol. (c) Unwashed control: sperm tails after incubation with Digestion buffer containing Dithiothreitol and Proteinase K. Scale bar: 25 µm.

Figure 2

Table 1. List of primers

Figure 3

Table 2. Semen parameter evaluation, HPV detection and genotyping results

Figure 4

Fig. 3. HPV viral DNA ratio determined by real-time PCR. Different HPV genotypes, sample numbers and fractions are indicated. Viral DNA quantity is expressed as relative quantity with respect to β-globin locus. Total sperm: DNA extracted from the washed sperm heads derived from the total semen. Cell fract.: DNA extracted from the somatic cell fraction.

Figure 5

Fig. 4. Inspection of viral genome integrity. (a) Results of real-time PCRs performed on HPV18 DNA extracted from a sample resulted positive in total spermatozoa (sample 4) to determine the ratio between selected HPV regions and LCR. Reference gene was HBB locus. Data points represent means (three replicates for each target and experiments were carried out two times) with standard deviations. **P values <0.005. (b) From inside to the outside of the circle: (1) The circular dsDNA genome of HPV18 is shown. Viral open reading frames are depicted as orange arrows. Transcription and replication control region (LCR) is depicted as a blue rectangle. (2) RT-PCR amplicon locations are indicated. (3) Putative part of the viral genome deleted in sperms is also indicated in red.