Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2003) 5 P210

BES2003 Poster Presentations Reproduction (22 abstracts)

Comparison between azoospermic responders and oligozoospermic non-responders to sex steroidal contraception: A pharmacogenetics study examining the androgen receptor, CYP17, LHbeta and 5alpha-reductase-2 genes

C Oxynos 1 , N Thakker 2 , C Hewitt 2 , L Southern 2 , RA Anderson 3 , IT Huhtaniemi 4 , EL Yong 5 & FCW Wu 6


1Department of Endocrinology, St James University Hospital, Leeds, UK;2Department of Medical Genetics, University of Manchester, UK; 3MRC Reproductive Biology Unit, Edinburgh, UK; 4Department of Physiology, University of Turku, Finland; 5Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University of Singapore; 6Department of Endocrinology, MRI, Manchester, UK.


BACKGROUND: Male steroidal contraceptive regimens achieve azoospermia in 60-90% of Caucasians. The mechanisms underlying this heterogeneity in response are not clear. The aim of this retrospective study was to examine a number of polymorphisms in genes involved in androgen metabolism and action, in azoospermic responders (n=73) and oligozoospermic non-responders (n=44) from previous contraceptive trials. METHODS: Local Ethical Committee approval was obtained. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples or stored serum. Serum was used for immunoassay. End points were AR exon 1 CAG repeats, CYP17 (alleles A1 and A2), LH beta (v-LH and wt-LH), and 5alpha-Reductase-2 (V89L, A49T, ATn) polymorphisms. RESULTS: One way ANOVA and x square test were used to compare CAG repeats and allele distributions between the two groups, respectively. The mean no. of CAG repeats were not significantly different between responders (21 plus/minus 2) and non responders (22 plus/minus 2.7). {f(1,47)=1.756, p=0.192}. Similarly, there were no significant differences in allele frequencies between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: There is no association between AR CAG repeats, CYP17, LHbeta, and 5alpha-Reductase-2 gene polymorphisms and response to male steroidal contraception. However, this study may have had insufficient statistical power to detect such differences.

Volume 5

22nd Joint Meeting of the British Endocrine Societies

British Endocrine Societies 

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