P-231: Androgen Receptor Gene Expression in Azoospermia Men

Background: Androgens are critical steroid hormones in progression of spermatogenesis process and determine the male phenotype that their actions are mediated by the androgen receptor (AR), a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily. In the Androgen receptor, transactivation domain encoded by exon 1, DNA binding domain encoded by exons 2 and 3, hinge region encoded by part of exon 4, and C-terminal ligand-binding domain encoded by exons 4 to 8. AR is a ligand-dependent transcription factor and regulates expression of androgen-responsive genes.The binding of androgens to AR result in receptor dimerization and its entering to the cell nuclear. Then AR dimer binds to its response elements and regulate its expression by transcribe of target genes. AR expression has been observed in Leydig, Sertoli, Pritubular Myoid cells but there was no expression in Germ cells. In this study we evaluated the expression of AR in 30 azoospermic infertile men. Materials and Methods: Samples were categorized in three groups: 10 obstructive and 10 non-obstructive Sertoli cell only syndrome and 10 Maturation arrest gene expression of AR determined by Real-time PCR technique. Results: This study demonstrates that expression of AR mRNA in SCO patients increased due to the lack of Germ cells. Conclusion: To this end, AR gene expression can be used as a biomarker gene for diagnosis azoospermia SCO in testis tissue of sub fertile men and azoospermia men. However, it seems that in the absence of sperm, AR gene expression increases, but this hypothesis should be confirmed by future studies.