DISTURBANCES OF FOLATE METABOLISM IN MEN WITH INFERTILITY

AIM. To study the association between the male infertility and the -1298A/C (rs1801131) polymorphisms of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene with male infertility in the Moscow region. METHODS. Study group of infertile men (n=70) includes 26 non-obstructive azoospermic patients, 23 astenospermic and 21 patients with teratospermia and 68 healthy controls with normal sperm parameters who had one child and more. Genotyping was performed by generated amplicons from melting curve analysis after real time PCR. RESULTS. We did not receive significant differences in the frequencies of MTHFR genotypes (A1298C) in infertile and fertile men. In the subgroup of men with pathospermia, carriers of the minor allele 1298C (genotype AC + CC) were found with a frequency of 61%, in the group of fertile men the frequency of carriers of the allele 1298C was 53% (chi(2) = 1.01; p = 0.31). However, the frequency of the minor allele 1298C of the MTHFR gene in the subgroup of men with asthenozoospermia was 50%, in the subgroup with teratozoospermia it was 33% and in the subgroup of men with azoospermia - 39% (chi(2) = 8.67; p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS. Genetic polymorphism of the locus Alpha 1298. (rs 1801131) of folate metabolism gene MTHFR is associated with risk of violations of motility of sperm in men of the Moscow region of Russia.