Anti-MAGEA9 (aa 2-51) polyclonal antibody

Spermatogenic failure characterized by impaired sperm production is a commonmultifactorial disease with molecular and cytogenetic causes for its extreme phenotype that include azoospermia and severe oliogzoospermia. Recently, a high-resolution array-comparative genomic hybridization analysis of the X chromosome and a subsequent cohort study revealed three X-linked microdeletions (CNV64, CNV67, and CNV69) that were associated with decreased sperm production in a mixed group that included Spanish and Italian males. To confirm their spermatogenic effect, we examined the hemizygous deletions and copy dosage of the MAGE family member A9 (MAGEA9) gene, which is a potential X-linked candidate for the CNV67-related spermatogenic phenotype, to investigate their associationwith spermatogenic failure in 1722 Hanmales from southwest China. The individuals in this group consisted of 884 patients with idiopathic azoospermia/oliogzoospermia and 838 controls with normozoospermia. Our results showed that both CNV64 and CNV69 were more common in patients than in controls. Similar to that reported previously, the CNV67 was also identified as being specific to spermatogenic failure in our population, although it was rare. More importantly, the paralog ratio tests and sequence family variant analyses provided evidence that the CNV67 might cause a partial deletion of the proximal copy of the MAGEA9 and suggests that CNV67-related spermatogenic failure may be attributed to the functional defect of the Cancer/ Testis gene. Our findings highlight the potential of the Xq-linked CNV67 to serve as a novel detection target in the etiological diagnosis of spermatogenic failure and male infertility, although its pathogenic mechanism remains to be elucidated.

Background The role of X-linked genes and copy-number variations (CNVs) in male infertility remains poorly explored. Our previous array-CGH analyses showed three recurrent deletions in Xq exclusively (CNV67) and prevalently (CNV64, CNV69) found in patients. Molecular and clinical characterisation of these CNVs was performed in this study. Methods 627 idiopathic infertile patients and 628 controls were tested for each deletion with PCR+/-. We used PCR+/- to map deletion junctions and long-range PCR and direct sequencing to define breakpoints. Results CNV64 was found in 5.7% of patients and in 3.1% of controls (p=0.013; OR=1.89; 95% CI 1.1 to 3.3) and CNV69 was found in 3.5% of patients and 1.6% of controls (p=0.023; OR=2.204; 95% CI 1.05 to 4.62). For CNV69 we identified two breakpoints, types A and B, with the latter being significantly more frequent in patients than controls (p=0.011; OR=9.19; 95% CI 1.16 to 72.8). CNV67 was detected exclusively in patients (1.1%) and was maternally transmitted. The semen phenotype of one carrier (11-041) versus his normozoospermic non-carrier brother strongly indicates a pathogenic effect of the deletion on spermatogenesis. MAGEA9, an ampliconic gene reported as independently acquired on the human X chromosome with exclusive physiological expression in the testis, is likely to be involved in CNV67. Conclusions We provide the first evidence for X chromosome-linked recurrent deletions associated with spermatogenic impairment. CNV67, specific to spermatogenic anomaly and with a frequency of 1.1% in oligo/azoospermic men, resembles the AZF regions on the Y chromosome with potential clinical implications.