Globozoospermia has been reported to be a rare but severe causation of male infertility, which results from the failure of acrosome biogenesis and sperm head shaping. Variants of dpy-19-like 2 (DPY19L2) are highly related to globozoospermia, but related investigations have been mainly performed in patients from Western countries. Here, we performed a screening of DPY19L2 variants in a cohort of Chinese globozoospermic patients and found that five of nine patients carried DPY19L2 deletions and the other four patients contained novel DPY19L2 point mutations, as revealed by whole-exome sequencing. Patient 3 (P3) contained a heterozygous variant (c.2126+5G>A), P6 contained a homozygous nonsense mutation (c.1720C>T, p.Arg574*), P8 contained compound heterozygous variants (c.1182-1184delATC, p.Leu394_Ser395delinsPhe; c.368A>T, p.His123Arg), and P9 contained a heterozygous variant (c.1182-1184delATCTT, frameshift). We also reported intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes in the related patients, finding that ICSI followed by assisted oocyte activation (AOA) with calcium ionophore achieved high rates of live births. In summary, the infertility of these patients results from DPY19L2 dysfunction and can be treated by ICSI together with AOA.
Asian journal of andrology. 2018 Oct 16 [Epub ahead of print]
Yong-Liang Shang, Fu-Xi Zhu, Jie Yan, Liang Chen, Wen-Hao Tang, Sai Xiao, Wei-Ke Mo, Zhi-Guo Zhang, Xiao-Jin He, Jie Qiao, Yun-Xia Cao, Wei Li
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China., Reproductive Medicine Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China., Beijing Key Laboratory of Reproductive Endocrinology and Assisted Reproductive Technology, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China., Medical Center of Reproductive and Genetics, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100034, China., Digital China Health Technologies Co., Ltd., Beijing 100080, China.