Infecção causada pelo papilomavírus humano e sua influência na qualidade seminal e no estresse oxidativo

Abstract

The diagnosis of human papillomavirus infection (HPV) in men has gained importance due to the fact they are frequently asymptomatic, who may be a virus reservoir, with an important role in the transmission and perpetuation of the disease. The goal of this study was to identify the presence of HPV in the semen in order to evaluate its influence in semen quality as well as in seminal oxidative stress. Sixty-eight men were analyzed, from which 30 were positive for DNA/HPV and 38 negative. Of the positive cases, 8/30 had HPV infection with the subtypes 16 or 18, which are considered with high prevalence for oncogenic risks. The viral infection and the classification of the virus subtypes were determined with the nested-PCR technique, and the enzymatic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were determined by spectrophotometry technique. There was no significant correlation among the studied epidemiological variables and the presence of the virus. The semen parameters sperm concentration and motility were evaluated manually according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria and the sperm morphology evaluated according to the WHO and Tygerberg´s strict criteria. The results show a higher incidence of sperm with abnormal morphology in patients with HPV infection compared to patients without the infection. Sperm concentration and motility did not show a difference between patients with or without HPV infection. In patients with the HPV, CAT levels were higher than patients without the HPV infection. Seminal oxidative stress may be related to the pathophysiology of infertility in patients with seminal HPV infection. This infection signalize for diminishing semen quality based on the damage of the sperm morphology seen in our study.