The Association of Reactive Oxygen Species with High-Risk Human Papilloma Virus Infection and Some Sperm Parameters in a Samples of Iraqi Idiopathic Infertile Males

Background: Male infertility is a prevalent issue affecting couples worldwide. Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is known to cause cervical cancer in women, but its association with male infertility is gaining attention. High-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection has been linked to oxidative stress (OS), an imbalance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the body. This OS may impact sperm function and fertility in men.
Objective: To find out the association of ROS with HR-HPV infection and sperm parameters with group of infertile Iraqi patients with unknown causes.
Methods: A case-control study of 68 seminal fluid samples (34 fertile and 34 infertile males) submitted to real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of HR-HPV types (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66, 68) and the plasma of seminal fluid samples were tested for ROS by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results: The outcomes showed high statistically significant association of ROS level with sperm parameters and HR-HPV infection (P <0.001), twenty-nine (42.6%) of infertile men were with high level of ROS. Twenty-five (36.8%) of asthenozoospermia samples were had high ROS levels, while only 4 (5.9%) samples had low level of ROS. The abnormal sperm morphology was found in 34 (50%) of samples, 29 (42.6%) and 5 (7.4%) of them were with high and low levels of ROS, respectively. Furthermore, 17 of positive HR-HPV samples were showed 16 (23.5%) with high level of ROS.
Conclusion: HR-HPV infection may cause elevated level of ROS, and this may potentially affect sperm parameters in idiopathic infertile males.
Keywords: High risk human papillomavirus, idiopathic infertility, sperm parameter, reactive oxygen species
Citation: Dawood MA, Al-Shuwaikh AM, Al-Kawaz UM. The association of reactive oxygen species with high-risk Human Papilloma virus infection and some sperm parameters in a sample of Iraqi idiopathic infertile males. Iraqi JMS. 2024; 22(1): 178-187. doi: 10.22578/IJMS.22.1.20