Abstract

It is well known that various human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes are present in semen specimens. Also, it has been demonstrated that sperm parameters are negatively affected when HPV infection is present in the sperm sample. Besides all these, the effect of cryopreservation on HPV sensitivity and resistance is not known. The aim of the present study is to evaluate first the prevalence of HPV and secondly to elucidate whether cryopreservation of sperm HPV-positive samples has any effect on the viability of HPV. For this purpose, a cohort of 78 sperm specimens was used from a respective number of patients. After giving informed consent, semen analysis was performed. Each sperm sample was divided into four equal aliquots. The first one (fresh) was evaluated for the prevalence of HPV, while the other three aliquots were cryopreserved by adding an equal quantity of cryoprotectant and plunged into the LN. Each of the three aliquots was thawed 3, 6, and 12 months later, respectively, so as to evaluate whether there is a time-resistance period of HPV prevalence. HPV infection was found to be in eleven sperm samples, demonstrating a 14.1% (11/78) HPV prevalence. Among the HPV-positive samples, six of them were high-risk and the remaining were low-risk genotypes. Moreover, the high-risk fresh samples demonstrated higher motility values than the low-risk samples (60% ± 2.7 vs 45.6% ± 3.7, p < .05), while semen volume in the high-risk samples was significantly lower than the respective volume in the low-risk samples (2.26 ± 0.2ml vs 3.5 ± 0.6ml, p < .05). Interestingly, cryopreservation of the HPV-positive samples resulted in the sustainability and time-resistance of HPV in all high-risk HPV-positive samples, something that was not the case with the low-risk HPV-positive samples. Conclusively, sperm samples infected with high-risk HPV, demonstrate lower sperm parameters and time-resistance activity during cryopreservation.

摘要

众所周知，精液标本中存在多种人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）基因型。此外，已经证明，当精子样本中存在 HPV 感染时，精子参数会受到负面影响。除此之外，冷冻保存对 HPV 敏感性和耐药性的影响尚不清楚。本研究的目的首先是评估 HPV 的患病率，其次是阐明冷冻保存 HPV 阳性精子样本是否对 HPV 的活力有影响。为此，使用了来自不同数量患者的 78 份精子样本。在给予知情同意后，进行精液分析。每个精子样本被分成四等份。对第一个（新鲜）的 HPV 患病率进行了评估，而另外三个等分试样通过添加等量的冷冻保护剂进行冷冻保存并投入液氮中。将三份样品分别在3个月、6个月和12个月后解冻，以评估HPV流行是否存在耐药期。在 11 个精子样本中发现 HPV 感染，表明 HPV 患病率为 14.1% (11/78)。HPV阳性样本中，有6例为高危基因型，其余为低危基因型。此外，高风险新鲜样本比低风险样本表现出更高的活力值（60% ± 2.7 vs 45.6% ± 3.7，在 11 个精子样本中发现 HPV 感染，表明 HPV 患病率为 14.1% (11/78)。HPV阳性样本中，有6例为高危基因型，其余为低危基因型。此外，高风险新鲜样本比低风险样本表现出更高的活力值（60% ± 2.7 vs 45.6% ± 3.7，在 11 个精子样本中发现 HPV 感染，表明 HPV 患病率为 14.1% (11/78)。HPV阳性样本中，有6例为高危基因型，其余为低危基因型。此外，高风险新鲜样本比低风险样本表现出更高的活力值（60% ± 2.7 vs 45.6% ± 3.7，p  < .05），而高风险样本中的精液量显着低于低风险样本中的相应体积（2.26 ± 0.2ml vs 3.5 ± 0.6ml，p < .05 ）  。有趣的是，HPV 阳性样本的冷冻保存导致了所有高危 HPV 阳性样本中 HPV 的可持续性和耐时间性，而低危 HPV 阳性样本则不然。总之，感染高危 HPV 的精子样本在冷冻保存过程中表现出较低的精子参数和耐时间活性。